Edinburgh make life difficult for Bollan’s Loons

Forfar Athletic still top League Two but their recent slump in form and results means the once substantial gap has been whittled down to just one point.

And the Loons were made to work hard for that point by Edinburgh City in the middle meeting of three consecutive clashes between the sides.

There didn’t look the length of the table between the sides and Forfar boss Gary Bollan admitted Edinburgh make it hard for his side to break them down.

“Edinburgh have their game plan and they made it difficult for us,” he said.

“I think we started well but then we lost a bad goal from our point of view.

“We did better in the second half and got the equaliser and we might have gone on to win. The assistant told me that it was miles offside when we scored again but my boys are adamant it was onside.

“It was important to get something from the game. But it is always important to get points from every game. We are going through a bit of a difficult run but they are not suddenly bad players.

“I have said before that it is not a sprint – there are 26 more games to go.

“We are still top of the table and still in the Scottish Cup, so now it is all about Tuesday’s replay.”

Forfar enjoyed the lion’s share of possession and chances in the opening quarter of the game. Stuart Malcolm had a shot hooked off the line and Martyn Fotheringham’s shot was tipped just over the bar by keeper Andrew Stobie.

However, City made the breakthrough in the 24th minute when Ousman See held off two defenders inside the box long enough to knock the ball past Grant Adam from 12 yards.

Into the second half, Malcolm almost cost Forfar a second with a poor header back to his keeper. See pounced but knocked the ball inches past the post.

Moments later Adam denied See with a fine block as the striker got clear.

Out of nothing, Forfar levelled in the 67th minute. Gavin Swankie picked out Danny Denholm with a beautiful cross field pass and Denholm dispatched a cracking diving header past Stobie.

With six minutes left Forfar thought they had stolen the three points but the assistant referee’s flag ruled Andy Munro’s header offside.

After two back to back draws between the sides, something now has to give in tomorrow’s Scottish Cup replay.