Station Park, April 3rd 2010

Forfar 2 Berwick Rangers 0

By Chris

If you ask anyone what Forfar is famous for the answer inevitably will be bridies; not exactly the greatest claim to fame but nonetheless reason enough for us to alter our traditional Saturday afternoon diet of mince pies and occasional pizzas. The town itself is a fairly bland affair but we did stop off for a pleasant pre-match pint at the Plough Inn which was recommended by a number of Forfar followers on our Groundhopping twitter (apparently we're over 80 followers now according to Kieran, our resident statistician). The ground, Station Park, is situated just round the corner from the bar and consists of a bank of open ended terracing behind either goal, covered terracing running along one side and a small elevated main stand on the other which doesn’t quite run the full length of the pitch. The pitch looked rather uneven and had a slope but all in all it wasn’t the most unattractive ground we have visited this season.

And so to the pre-match bridies. To be honest I found them rather disappointing given the hype, too much chewy pastry but this was compensated with a tasty homemade style filling. As we finished the local delicacy the teams emerged to a cacophony of noise from the tannoy which submerged any applause the 400 punters had given and the teams kicked off in bright spring sunshine. It was evident from the very early stages that the visitors Berwick Rangers hadn’t improved any since we visited them a month or so back. Forfar had them on the back foot from the off and were duly rewarded just eight minutes in when Barry Sellars struck a low free-kick from the edge of the box which Berwick keeper Mark Peat just failed to keep out. The home side continued to dominate possession and Mark Watson went close with a chip but Berwick did come back into it a little before the break however the one goal separated the sides at the interval.

The second half began in a lively manner with Berwick continuing to exert some pressure without really ever threatening and it was of little surprise that their weak defence was exposed again on the hour. This time Ian Campbell’s free-kick into the box was nodded comfortably home by his brother Ross and the match instantly died as a contest. However there was still some drama to come near the end when Berwick defender Andy McLean was dismissed for a foul on Mark McCulloch in the box but the resultant penalty by Ian Harty smacked the crossbar and the home side saw out an easy last ten minutes to all but secure their play-off place in Division Three.

Journey – 5
Bridie – 7
Bovril – 7
Ground – 7
Game – 5