FORFAR Athletic, perennial dwellers of Scotland's lower echelons, are homing in on a return to the relatively illustrious second tier for the first time since 1991/92.
Last night's first-leg victory over Alloa Athletic left the ultra-experienced Station Park side in pole position to win the Championship play-off final and take themselves into the same division as at least one of Scottish football's traditional heavyweights, Rangers or Hibernian.
Alloa have already enjoyed that novelty this season, but Danny Lennon's side now require a two-goal victory in Sunday evening's second leg at Recreation Park to have any chance of remaining in the Championship for a third consecutive campaign.
Dick Campbell, the longest-serving manager in Scotland, sent out a Forfar starting XI containing seven players 31 or older, including fortysomething pair Rab Douglas and Darren Dods.
There was no hint of tired legs in the home ranks, however, as they started in sprightly fashion and took the lead with the first attempt of the match after nine minutes. Martyn Fotheringham's fluffed shot from the edge of the box was diverted goalwards by Danny Denholm and, after goalkeeper John Gibson could only parry, Omar Kader, the former Spartans player, followed up to prod in the rebound from six yards out.
The hosts' tails were up and three minutes later, Fotheringham volleyed over from 15 yards after Kader had helped a Gavin Swankie cross into his path. Swankie then tried his luck with a chipped effort from the edge of the box which was clutched by Gibson.
It was then the turn of Douglas to be called into action, with the former Celtic and Scotland goalkeeper having to dive to his right to keep out an angled shot from Kevin Cawley at his near post after quarter of an hour. At the other end, Chris Templeman's low shot from the edge of the box was well saved by Gibson five minutes later.
Douglas produced a brilliant save to deny Liam Buchanan from seven yards out in the 22nd minutes and seconds later the veteran goalkeeper was at it again when he raced from his goal to block at the feet of Michael Chopra after the former Newcastle United striker had got himself clear in the box.
Douglas was eventually beaten in the 27th minute when Buchanan lobbed the ball over him from outside the box and into the net, but the visitors' celebrations were cut short after the goal was disallowed for a push.
Buchanan, who had been visibly frustrated at seeing his side have a couple of decent penalty claims waved away, then drifted a chip from the edge of the box just beyond the far post.
Alloa made a strong start to the second half, but after failing to convert their pressure into any tangible reward, they fell further behind in the 58th minute. After Kader got in behind the away defence and miscued his lob from outside the box, Swankie eventually seized on the loose ball and delivered a perfect cross from the left for Templeman to power home a close-range header.
Alloa should have responded immediately but Chopra shot straight at Douglas after finding himself with a golden opportunity six yards out.
With seven minutes remaining, the visitors hauled themselves back into it when Kyle Benedictus headed in a Mark Docherty cross. But Michael Travis restored Forfar's two-goal advantage in stoppage time when he nodded in a corner from sub Gavin Malin.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article