Forfar Athletic mark a year of success since officially opening their synthetic surface in 2012.
The Angus side celebrated the opening of the two-star, Fifa-approved 3G surface on October 15 with a friendly match against Aberdeen, which they lost 2-1, but have since gone on to record victories that will go down in club history.
The highlight was, arguably, the ousting of Rangers in the Scottish League Cup on August 3 where the Loons ran out 2-1 winners.
The pitch has hosted the first team’s home fixtures but has also become home to the ladies’ team Forfar Farmington and acts as a community facility for other sports and SFA youth projects.
Funding for the £370,000 project came largely from the Scottish Government’s Cashback from Criminals scheme, which takes money from the proceeds of crime and invests it back into Scottish communities.
Forfar Athletic, Forfar Farmington, Angus Council and the Forfar Common Good Fund provided the additional resources to complete the work.
The benefits of the pitch also include maintaining the club’s commitment to the fixture calendars as the synthetic surface stands up better than grass against the elements of a Scottish winter.
Despite recording several high-scoring results and a good overall win ratio, the Loons have not managed to beat any of their Angus rivals on the new pitch. This was added to by a 2-1 defeat by Stranraer on Saturday.
Secretary David McGregor joked, however, that the club has still been happy to “help” their cross-county opponents when their own pitches have been unplayable.
He said that the pitch had been a “great bonus” to the club and the community and could only recount three occasions over the past year where events or games had to be cancelled or postponed, compared to more than three times that number when the pitch was grass.
“Our own players have adapted well to it and have enjoyed training and playing on it, which is important,” said David.
“It gives them a true surface to play on throughout the year and overall it has been a great benefit. The previous three seasons had something like a dozen first-team fixtures fall victim to the weather but, even with this year’s late, harsh winter weather, we were able to stay open.
“We even managed to stage a few Brechin City matches when their surface was unplayable.”
Mr McGregor also hailed the pitch as a community resource that caters for a variety of sports.
He added: “It has been a great benefit to the community. Even over the past couple of weeks and heading into winter it has been, and is, fully booked five nights a week from tea-time till late on.
“The community gets good use out of it as does Forfar Farmington.”
Club chairman Alastair Donald echoed Mr McGregor’s assessment of the pitch. Forfar have recorded 13 competitive victories on the pitch in 26 games over the past 12 months.