Forfar crashed out of the Scottish Cup at the hands of Highland League outfit Formartine United and could have little complaint.
Bitterly disappointed manager Jim Weir said: “It was a terrible performance from the start to the end.
“In cup ties, especially away from home, you have to handle the conditions, the surroundings and pressure.
“We didn’t do any of that.
“Credit to Formartine, they fully deserved their win. They had more passion and more hunger.”
The United manager, former Motherwell midfielder Paul Lawson, said: “The conditions didn’t make for great football but we played better than them.
“Our effort and work-rate was fantastic.
“We knew they’d come at us in the second half but we have good footballers. There was no point in pumping long balls up into the wind. We ran over the top of them”
The only goal came in the 15th minute, as a result of one of Lawson’s dangerous deliveries from the left.
The ball was cleared to midfielder Liam Burnett. His thunderous shot from the edge of the box was blocked, only for right-back Johnny Crawford to force home in front of goal.
Almost on the half-hour, with the wind playing havoc, Lawson’s 30-yarder hit Forfar keeper Marc McCallum on the chest and left him looking bemused at how to deal with the pace of the ball.
The Highland League side were playing into the wind in the second half and Wayne Mackintosh was unlucky with a right-foot drive.
There was little threat from the visitors and the nearest to a second goal was when Scott Barbour surged from deep down the left, evading two players before narrowly firing wide of McCallum’s left post.
