The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Hegarty knew Forfar would pose challenge
Montrose boss was not fooled by Loons’ heavy loss at Dens
Montrose manager Paul Hegarty knew Forfar would be a strong force in League Two – even after watching them lose 7-0.
Hegarty was a spectator at Dens Park when the Loons were thrashed by Dundee in the Betfred Cup.
But he didn’t take the result as a sign the league season could be a struggle for Gary Bollan’s men. Far from it.
He said: “When I saw them against Dundee they were very good until they lost the first goal. You could see there was a good shape to their side and that they had some good players.
“Full-time fitness told in the end for Dundee that day, but 7-0 wasn’t the full story.
“Gary’s taken his time to assess his squad and has bought really well. He must be absolutely delighted with how things are going: seven games and seven wins.
“They’ll be full of confidence and will be difficult to claw back for the rest of the league.”
Hegarty doesn’t view today’s Station Park derby as being mission impossible though.
“We beat Edinburgh City and then our draw against Berwick could quite easily have been 4-1 or 5-1. That would have been a fair reflection on the game.
“Things are moving in the right direction and we’ll hopefully take confidence from those two performances.
“This is a derby, a lot of the players know each other, and we’ll be doing our best to end their run of wins.”
Andy Steeves is a doubt after injuring his knee last weekend.
This will be the first league game between the sides since 2010.
An eighth successive win would be Forfar’s best run in 131 years, but Bollan will not allow his players to be distracted.
“I heard that there was a club record at stake,” he said. “But I am not overly worried if it is our first, seventh or eighth win as the prize is the same – the three points.
“I know their management team of Paul Hegarty and John Holt really well. They were a great help to me when I was starting out in football, especially Paul, who is one of the gentlemen in the game.
“There will be several former Forfar players in their team and it is a derby. They have plenty of reasons for winning, so we need to concentrate on the 90 minutes only and not getting carried away by records.”
Bollan expects to have a full squad.