Bridie Vision

Cue the weather cancelling the match and then one of our players to injure themselves in their local gym before the cup game.

So Rory MacLeod is on international duty with Scotland U19s. That got me thinking. Who was the last Forfar player to get called up to a national side (senior or youth) whilst at Forfar? I'm pretty sure Odmar Faro got a senior call-up to the Faroese national team a good few years ago. But there is something in the back of my mind, but could easily be a false memory. Did George Stanger get a NZ U21 call up a couple years ago when he was with us on loan?

Yesterday was disappointing (stating the obvious). Peterhead deserved the win in my opinion (controversial, I know). Forfar dominated possession in the first half but we did absolutely nothing with it. Peterhead were gifted the goals due to more Forfar defensive mistakes but whenever they did approach our box they looked dangerous. Whereas whenever Forfar got into the box we looked as dangerous as a duckling in a basket of wool. We had some good pressure in the 2nd half and Skelly got his goal, then the triple sub happened. Munro off for Brindley that was good. Smokie & Patty off for Seb and Mutale was not so obvious as I thought they were linking up well. However, I do think Mutale looked exciting, he had the desire and energy, not the end product. We did keep the pressure for about 5 minutes after the subs but then the game petered out. McCallum got himself another stupid yellow for winding up McAllister. It was inevitable that Rory McAllister was going to get his goal after he'd won the mental game against the Loons (fans and players alike) good on him for celebrating right in front of the Forfar fans. When a player does that against your team it's infuriating, when it's your player it's hilarious and brilliant. People calling for McKinnon’s head, or rather wishing he'd gone to Caley Thistle with big Dunc. I understand why some fans are that way inclined but I can't see it happening. Despite how similar our season is looking to last year with Irvine I don't think Forfar are going to be in a relegation scrap (my perspective is open to change). I can see us getting enough draws to keep our heads above water and the Forfar board will be happy to keep Ray around if he delivers us a 6th or 7th place finish - heck even 9th will suffice.

Highlights.

The Forfar media team could just replay the exact same interview every week. "Disappointed we lost, we should've won today but we'll move on and hope for change next week, etc, etc" That's the first quarter finished and we've won one match. How stupid I feel for being optimistic in July

Marc McCallum made his 250th appearance for Forfar at the weekend, the club have just put out a wee post congratulating him.

East Fife have done their highlights for the match. https://vimeo.com/869988243

Whatley is supposed to be our Kyle Hutton type. Also Ray has experimented with Adam Hutchinson in that role too.

Both teams in similar form. Match could go either way, so probably a 0-0 draw.

Anyone who was at the game. How was it, looked fairly enjoyable from the highlights with Forfar generally being on top?

Agreed, a trip away to Huntly is honestly more enjoyable for myself than say a home tie against someone like East Fife, which is still better than say Elgin or Dumbarton away. In the 2020/21 season all our Scottish Cup matches were home ties: 2nd Round: Forfar Athletic 4 - 1 Linlithgow (revenge for the time they kicked us out 3 years earlier) 3rd Round: Forfar Athletic 2 - 2 Edinburgh (5-3 pens) 4th Round: Forfar Athletic 0 - 1 Dundee United (TV game) Since then we've always been drawn away, it's also the furthest we've gone in the cup since then.

Lovely Goal from Patty. Yes, the keeper was scrambling after a poor clearance on the edge of the box, but Ryan chipped it wonderfully.

How were the ref's decisions today? Really glad we got 3 points today.

Daz out, Andy in is highly frustrating but at least Paterson starts and he proves his worth by opening the scoring for us!

Stranraer fans mildly okay about the game. Forfar fans definitely not. I don't think Forfar will be getting a win (I hope I'm wrong). Can see it being a nil-nil or a one goal swing in Stranraer's way.

Managers interviews are always poor. Managers will always be very tactful in their answers and they also very rarely say "yeah I f***Ed up today!" Also, interviews by club media are always even more tame as they won't ask awkward and difficult questions that are overly critical.

Highlights for everyone to examine:

Well done Forfar, leading for 2 minutes and then shoot ourselves in the foot

Aye, you're probably right. I'd rather start Hutchinson or Whyte over Andy but, he's undroppable for Ray.

Absolutely cracking signing (should be). Please Ray, play some attacking football on Saturday. I wonder how we'll line up at the weekend, maybe this? McCallum Morrison, Munro, Allan Nditi, Whatley, Inglis, Moore MacLeod, Skelly, Ferguson The front 3 being very narrow meaning all the width comes from Roberto & Smokie?

Here's a conversation starter. According to The Courier, Ray has elected against arranging a friendly/bounce game this weekend. So, what would you do, and for what reasons? No friendly - allows those injured to recover and gives players a rest (Ray's reasoning). Play a friendly against a local junior side. Keeps fitness up, allows those coming back to get minutes and probably win therefore lifting a bit of morale. Another option, details, reasons and why.

Looks like Mutale's loan is over as he's returned to Dundee for rehab following an ankle ligament injury during training. I'm sure some will say "who cares he was useless" but I think he showed some good movement and looked tricky to opposing defenders, and would have liked to see him play some more games to see what promise he has.

What an enthralling match https://youtu.be/6NGV7Cr7j8M

There's a good squad in there somewhere. It's just so frustrating. Why do we look nothing like the team in preseason! Sure you could argue that Montrose and Arbroath weren't playing their strongest XI but even still you'd say they're stronger than Elgin or Clyde. We look like two different teams.

Ditto for Forfar fans too.