Forfar continued their fine start to the season as they swept aside Edinburgh City to go joint-top of League Two with Kelty Hearts.
The Angus side face title favourites Kelty at Station Park next week in a mouth-watering clash with the SPFL new boys.
That game will tell us much about both Forfar’s and Kelty’s title aspirations.
It won’t, however, decide the destination of the Championship – yet.
The early signs look good for Gary Irvine’s revamped side and Courier Sport was there to watch them see off Edinburgh City.
Here are 3 things we learned from the win:
There is life left in the legs of the Forfar ‘White Cafu’
Gary Irvine became a Dundee cult hero during a six year spell at Dens Park between 2010 and 2016.
He played a starring role in Dark Blues Dee-fiant season and clocked up 186 games for the club while earning the nickname ‘The White Cafu’.
The original Cafu achieved it all during a glittering career that saw him become the all-time most-capped Brazilian player.
He won the Copa Libertadores twice, Champions League and two World Cups before hanging up his boots at the age of 38.
Of course, Forfar player-boss Irvine can only dream of reaching such heights in the game.
But as a cool-headed defender he still looks incredibly fit at 36.
His perfectly-timed tackling, incredible positional sense and composure on the ball were evident traits as Forfar made it four clean sheets from five games on Saturday.
Forfar have found the winning formula
Saturday’s win was no fluke.
All over the park, Forfar won their key battles against Edinburgh City.
Skippered by Ross Meechan, they look defensively-sound, battle-ready in midfield and potent in attack.
Forfar players continually speak publicly of how well-drilled their side is under Irvine.
His hard work is starting to come to fruition as Forfar have won six games out of nine, trailing back to the end of last season.
Prior to that, the Angus side had only picked up two wins from 31 games. That consigned them to relegation to League Two.
Loons could pay penalty for spot-kick sins
Forfar 2 Edinburgh City 0: Aberdeen loanee Mark Gallagher brushes off penalty miss to seal Angus side’s win https://t.co/jwWRvY5obF pic.twitter.com/SVmgz6lfRk
— The Courier Sport (@thecouriersport) August 7, 2021
Mark Gallagher became the third Forfar player this season to miss a penalty as he cracked a spot-kick off the base of the post against Edinburgh City.
Gallagher’s miss followed on from skipper Ross Meechan’s failure to convert a penalty against Brora. Craig Slater also missed from 12 yards against Montrose.
On all three occasions the penalty miss hasn’t led to defeat.
But Forfar need to find a new dead ball expert to avoid future, costly, penalty sins.
