Forfar slumped to their third loss in the last four with a home defeat to Stranraer.
Home fans hoping to bounce back after last week’s hugely disappointing defeat to Cowdenbeath were left just as frustrated as a largely flat Forfar side could not break down a very organised Stranraer.
And Forfar boss Dick Campbell was as disappointed as anyone at Station Park.
“It is a strange game, football,” he reflected.
“The first goal was poorly, poorly defended. We have been doing really well this year but we didn’t defend two balls over the top of us.
“The first one should have been a really easy ball to defend, and (Michael) Travis will not be happy about that.
“The second one was the same. It was a stupid push to concede the penalty.
“I didn’t see Stranraer causing us any problems at all. But if you defend like that and lose goals like that you will not win games.
“Silly defensive errors cost us.
“That isn’t the standards we have set about the place and I am very disappointed, as you can tell. And my players will be disappointed as well, but I don’t have any complaints.”
Campbell conceded things might have been different if one or two of the efforts that hit the woodwork had gone in, but admitted Forfar just hadn’t done enough.
The Loons controlled the early play and were twice denied by the woodwork in the opening quarter.
Bryan Hodge somehow scooped his close-range shot high up and back off the crossbar before Michael Dunlop was similarly denied, his header from a Swankie cross hitting the bar.
The visitors played their way back into the game and Craig Pettigrew went close before Mark McGuigan broke the deadlock in the 20th minute.
He showed great strength to hold off Michael Travis, force his way into the box and bullet a shot beyond Scott Gallacher.
The second half started in identical fashion, with Forfar pressing, but again Stranraer stunned them.
A long ball over the top found McGuigan and he was brought down by a careless challenge by Thomas O’Brien.
It looked soft, but Chris Aitken didn’t care as he sent the keeper the wrong way from the penalty spot.
Forfar had to up their game, and pushed Stranraer back for long periods.
Their pressure paid off in the 76th minute when Travis atoned for his earlier error by stabbing a Dunlop cutback home from inside the six-yard box.