Berwick Rangers 0-1 Forfar Ath
Sunday 4th October 2009
Rangers relinquished their position as league leaders after an awful game at Shielfield which was absolutely ruined by the gale force wind howling across the park and which caused other matches to be postponed.
No sour grapes about the result - Forfar mastered the near-unplayable conditions better than Berwick, though their goal came from what I am obliged to politely describe as a controversial penalty decision. Credit to the Loons however - in the physically imposing Chris Templeman they had the best player on the park, and in the absence of the combative Paul Currie, out with an ill-timed bout of gastro-enteritis, the visitors' midfield dominated their lightweight Gers counterparts and that was probably the crucial difference. Only Stuart Callaghan made any impact, but the game passed Russell, McLaren and Greenhill by and highlighted fears that once playing conditions deteriorate in the winter weather, Rangers may find it harder to play their natural pass and move game. Both keepers had a quiet afternoon and that was a reflection of the difficulty both sides had keeping the ball on the park such was the ferocity of the wind. It's a nonsense to start matches in conditions like this because no-one benefits - it's a pretty dire spectacle for the supporters and not much fun for the players either,which is a shame because the weather ruined the standout match of the day in the Third Division.
Not surprisngly it took some time for the match to warm up, Rangers bursting into life with their most sustained spell of attacking in the 9th minute, Jamie Ewart blasting wide from 22 yards out. A minute later Brazil should have given Rangers the lead, bursting through one on one with Brown only to shoot too close to the keeper who saved well with his legs. From the resultant couple of corners, Brown was forced to claw Callaghan's wind-assisted set pieces out from under the bar. After Ross Campbell escaped a deserved booking for a late challenge on Peat in the 28th minute, Forfar began to ease their way back into the game and Peat saved well from Mowat's angled drive in the 32nd minute. Three minutes later Dale Gray's dangerous low cross found no takers, before Callaghan caused Brown further grief with another brace of dangerous corners on the stroke half time.
The second half started with a plethora of miskicks and wild slices with the wind making any attempt by the players to keeep the ball on the deck an absolute lottery. Tow minutes into the second period an incisive break from McLaren set up Damon Gray but his lack of composure led to him slicing wide from a good position. Gray's involvment ended in the 57th minute when the striker, whose ability in the air had impressed during the first half, appeared to pull his hamstring. Eight minutes later Forfar took a winning lead in controversial fashion. Mowat and Callaghan challenged for the ball some distance outside the box. The Forfar midfielder hit the deck following what looked like aroutine collision, and it was instructive that no Forfar player claimed for a penalty. Ref Madden saw it differently however, and Ross Campbell dispatched the spot kick with ease. Mowat and Callum Smith could have extended Forfar's lead but Peat saved well from both, before Rangers belatedly found some form, putting together a superb sweeping move in the 89th minute, prompted by a sublime Callaghan through ball which saw Brazil bend a shot narrowly over from 20 yards.
Both sets of players deserve credit for managing to keep the ball on the park at all, but Rangers will want to get back to winning ways on the plastic at Ochilview next week, a surface which should suit their game better than today's conditions.
Peat 8; Notman 6; Ewart 6; Guy 6; Smith 6; McLaren 5; Russell 4; Callaghan 6; Greenhill 4; Brazil 6; Gray 6
Crowd - 436
LINK : SFL3 Table
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