This afternoon saw the lads take on Forfar Albion at Charlotte Street in the Queen's Jubilee Cup 1st round. It was gusty conditions which welcomed both teams with a very strong wind blowing across the pitch to the east.
The opening exchanges were very scrappy and equal with both teams struggling to make any headway in the conditions.
After eight minutes, Lewis Thomson nearly gave us the lead when his effort crashed back off the post.
Forfar were putting us under some pressure and were playing some decent balls into dangerous positions without troubling Michael Smith in goal.
We took the lead after 15 minutes when Lewis Hutton latched onto a great through-ball to finish coolly into the bottom corner.
The expected bounce and assuredness from taking the lead didn't materialise and we made hard work of the remainder of the half, the lads just couldn't get going, with little cohesion to our play.
HT 1-0
Intent on raising their game, the lads set out in determined fashion after halftime and three minutes after the restart, the lead was doubled.
Good work down the right wing saw Lewis Thomson whip in a near post cross and new signing Ben Garrick timed his run perfectly to fire home at the front post, a really good cross and finish.
Lewis T nearly got a deserved goal on 45 minutes but his effort just cleared the crossbar.
Ben got his second of the afternoon on 48 minutes with a smart finish from 8 yards, 3-0.
Forfar pulled a goal back soon after but it was a blip in an otherwise dominant second half display. We were playing at a much higher tempo, with greater desire, more like ourselves and we were causing the Forfar backline constant problems.
Ruari Henry's effort from 25 yards after 59 minutes was mishandled by the Forfar keeper and it ended up in the back of the net to make it 4-1.
Goal of the game came from fullback Logan Piggot with 14 minutes remaining when he burst into the right hand side of the penalty box, and despite being forced wide, managed to whip in a thunderous drive that flew high past the keeper before he had time to react - great strike from Loggie.
With the final kick of the game, Forfar got a second goal with a strike from distance.
FT 5-2
This was a game of two halves to use the cliched term. First half was well below the standard the lads have set themselves and they knew this at half time. Second half was much, much better and the scoreline reflected a much improved performance and dominance of the second period ?
We're through to the next round of the Queen's Jubilee cup and next week we travel to Carnoustie for another cup tie, this time the Scottish Cup.
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