Well, where do I start? This was all round awful. From what I hear Kirkie has given in and resigned straight after and to be honest to was that or be sacked.
Arbroath lined up with Woodcock in goal, a defensive 3 of Flyer, McLeod and Bishop. A midfield 5 of Beith, MacDonald, Millar, Rennie and Henslee, with a front pairing of Gavin Swankie and Duncan McLean. To be honest im not actually sure where Swankie, Henslee, Rennie or MacDonald playing half the time, it was that bad!
In the first 5-10mins it was all Forfar and they had the first chance in a breakaway. A Jay Stein cross was met at the back post by Paul Tosh and Woodcock made a great fingertip save to keep the scoreline blank.
Forfar had the bulk of possession throughtout but midway through the 1st half it was the Lichties who had the chances with Duncan McLean threatening the Forfar defence. First he beat the Forfar left back and put in a great ball but, as usual, there was nobody at the back post to get anywhere near it. Only a minute later
On 33mins Forfar opened the scoring with Paul Shields hitting the back of the net. Chris McLeod took an age on the ball allowing Paul Tosh to muscle him off the ball and after a neat pass to Shields, who drove the ball low under Woodcock, it was 1-0.
After this it was all Forfar and Arbroath were lucky to keep them to a single goal before the half time interval. The next 45minutes would make or break Stevie Kirk’s Arbroath career, and it certainly broke it!
Only a minute or so after the restart the Lichties had a great chance to equalise. A great ball in from the right hand side saw Gavin Beith unmarked 4 yards out with a simple tap in hear which he somehow put over the ball. About a minute after this Forfar scored at the opposite end. The Arbroath defence fucked about again and the ball was volleyed home by Paul Shields.
Soon after Forfar scored the 3rd. Paul Shields cracked the ball against the bar and AGAIN the defence failed to clear and Jay Stein knocked the ball home. At this point after the fans had been at Sellars, Forrest and King they turned on Kirkie, and the the “Kirk must go” chants started.
Ten minutes later Forfar got a 4th by Paul Tosh ( the player not good enough for us as said by John Brownlie!!) as he got infront of his marker and powered home a good, hard shot with his left foot.
On 77 minutes Forfar got 5th. Shocking marking from a corner led to Judas King finished from inside the 6 yard box.
I honestly hope I NEVER have to do match reports like the last 5 I’ve had to do. It’s been hell doing them, but not because off the awful losses, because I know the players can play better than they are. As I’ve said from the start of the season these players are the best I’ve seen individually at Gayfield in the 6 years I’ve been watching. What has lost us so many goals and matches this season have been the shambolic tactics, awful formations and pathetic substitutions. Kirk has a really good eye for players but everything else in the 90 mins have been crap. With Kirk’s players and a new manager who can get them playing as a team not 11 individual’s I think we can easily survive in this league. Billy Stark for manager anyone?