Bridie Vision

I see we're all really excited about this game...

It's just been officially announced. Hilly has gone to Arbroath "for a five figure sum" plus Steven Doris. According to the Facebook post Hilly was probably not going to sign another contract with us so to get at least £10,000 is much better than him going on a free in the summer. Hopefully Steven Doris gets fit, and I agree with tbsouth, playing him alongside Coupe could be really effective. Although Coupe needs to really improve his finishing him harassing defences, creating spaces for a (hopefully) clinical finisher in Doris to score. Really sad to see Hilly go but no doubt he'll be back as a 35 year old and finish his career at Station Park. One Forfar legend leaves for Arbroath as an Arbroath legend leaves for Forfar, quite poetic and hopefully works out as best for both parties.

Surely that's not true! If he did leave we'd be relegated for sure, pinning our goalscoring hopes on Forbes (that's not too bad) and Matty Aitken (who I like, as a person, but wouldn't trust to get us out of the relegation zone).

5 CBs? Travis, Whyte, Stanger and potentially Morrison. Who have I missed? Stuart Malcolm putting his boots on? I agree though we have a plethora of defenders but only Hilly and Matty Aitken up top, and only Coupe as a true winger.

In the long-run a draw against top of the league isn't bad for Forfar. I thought we were good in the first half, and played a good quick-passing game for about 5 minutes in the second half and then we just sat back and let Raith have chance after chance, thankfully they were pretty poor otherwise we definitely would've lost that game, glad to see Raith are somehow cursed at Station Park. No surprise Bairdy scored, and I knew he would celebrate like mad because that's exactly what he did for us last season at Stark's Park. Don't understand how Gary Irvine got the man of the match award, it should've have been Baino, he was tremendous, our main attacking and creative outlet in the first half bombing down the left flank while Kirkpatrick cut inside to support Hilly & Forbes. Tapping was invisible today and how he didn't get hooked off the pitch after 50 minutes I don't know. Docherty as well, really think Robertson or even Mackintosh should start in CM over him, really hope Stuart Malcolm can sign a decent CM because our midfield is way worse than it was last season. Stanger & Whyte looked good together at the back so hopefully the Kiwi can help us in our climb up the table. McCallum was brilliant as always, we'd be below Stranraer if it wasn't for that Forfarian between the sticks.

See he's gone on loan to Brechin, that makes sense financially for the Hedge. Anyone heard any rumours about Stuart Malcolm's transfer/loan targets now Stanger has joined and Jacko has left?

When Jacko signed I thought he'd be a good backup to Hilly but he has never been fit, and even less so now after his head injury. He also signed a 2 year deal with us so could Brechin actually afford a transfer fee? I wouldn't miss him if he left, however, it would leave us light in the striker department (lighter in both senses ) as the only true strikers we have at the club are Hilly & Matty Aitken, as Forbes and Kirkpatrick are more midfielders than strikers, in my opinion.

Raith victory all week long, Gullan will probably find the net, and I'm sure Baird will want to get in the act. Game will go one of two ways. Comfortable scoreline for Raith because Forfar will attack and be very open at the back. Or, Stuart Malcolm will tell Forfar to park the bus like we did at Airdrie last week, in which case Raith will get a goal or two in the second half, and we'll not be able to make a reply.

I believe we are.

What a surprise Rory Currie's, Russell McLean's & Archie MacPhee's loans have not been extended! Here's a list of all their contributions: Rory Currie: ... Russell McLean: Scored his only goal on his debut in a 2-1 defeat to Raith at home. Archie MacPhee: ... Excellent loan signings, not.

1-0 defeat for Forfar. Could've been a lot worse!

We're scoring for fun but conceding for fun also. We have a really tricky January games against yourselves, Raith and Falkirk. Airdrie will win 3-2 Forfar probably conceding the 3rd goal late on, just like we did against Montrose last week.

Looks good to me, I'd agree with most of that squad. Nice to include a substitute's bench. No surprise Malks is looking at someone he had on loan at EK for reinforcements, hope this lad can make the step up. Would be nice to have a current U21 international in our squad.

Forbes is very similar to Dylan Easton, everybody knows how brilliant they are but can be lazy and go missing when the going gets tough, which is why fans tend to be very decisive over so called "luxury" players. However, credit to Ross Forbes he seems to be working harder under Stuart Malcolm and that is showing in his recent goal return, scoring from open play as well as set pieces, so criticism may dwindle. As for Irvine and Docherty, with Travis and Kirkpatrick having been out injured recently we haven't had much choice but to play these guys. With some decent loan signings in January Irvine and Docherty may get relegated to the bench.

Stuart Malcolm said in his interview after Saturday that he was going to look into the loan market, me personally would like to see if we could get Mark Hill back. Was tremendous last season for us before he went for 6 months to the US. Also, he is probably a presence we're needing in the middle of the park.

He's an average LB. Nowhere near as good as Adam Eckersely was for us and I think Baino is slightly better than him, even on his weaker side. Sean Burns is better than Archie MacPhee anyway, pointless loan signing, he was in the Highland League for a reason!

First half was a decent game, second half was disastrous for Forfar, sat far too deep and Lyons constantly exploited Gary Irvine's inability to run, also if Bain and Burns swapped positions then we might have had a better force going forwards, but would have been even weaker at the back! Marc McCallum saved our hides on multiple occasions but it was inevitable that Montrose would eventually score a winner. Hope Stuart Malcolm can find a good CM and a winger in January. With Airdrie, Raith & Falkirk coming up we might be bottom come 31st January 2020!

Don't think we'll reach the playoffs, but should have enough about us to climb out of 9th, will be interesting to see who Stuart Malcolm recruits in January.

Waiting to hear whose still injured and who should be back before I think about what the result will be. This game could go either way but I sure hope it's an exciting match for the fans.

What is it with wearing away kits at home? Stranraer played in their change strip at home. Forfar have worn the "Bridie Gold" kit our last two home games, and I remember from watching the Clyde v Forfar highlights that Clyde were in their black away shirt.

Surprised but very glad my prediction was off, look forward to seeing the highlights, if anyone filmed it. Noticed Sean Burns was a late replacement for Callum Tapping, is that another one to add to the injury list? Also did Burns play LM or did he play LB and Bain moved forward? Nice to see Sean Burns grabbing a goal.

According to the match preview. Travis is injured for today, who should play alongside Whyte? Meechan, Docherty, Irvine or Robertson? Also how long have Currie and MacPhee been out injured? I know they're no loss to the team but have they had a medium serious injury because it feels like they've been out of action for months!

If Stranraer score first it'll give them confidence, and Forfar will most likely crumble. What I meant is that provided Forfar don't have a similar collapse to last week then getting the first goal will, hopefully, give them a lift to push on, and see out the game. I still see 0-0 as the most likely score however.

Forfar are in the same boat. We go behind we crumble. The first goal tomorrow (if there's any goals at all) will be crucial and probably decide the outcome. Saying that, we blew the lead 3 times to Dumbarton, so even if we take the lead Stranraer could easily come back.