Match Report - By Steven Mew

The City squad got more pre-season minutes under their belts yesterday as near-neighbours Forfar Athletic ran out winners at the Carnegie Fuels Stadium at Glebe Park.

The scoreline perhaps didn’t reflect how the game went, with two basic errors culminating in the opening two goals for the League 2 outfit.

Manager Patrick Cregg was able to welcome back Lenny Wilson, Michael Cruickshank, Ryan Ferguson, Fraser MacLeod and Craig Tosh to the squad whilst he also cast his eye over a number of trialists throughout.

City started brightly and within two minutes, Craig Tosh got in behind the defence to latch onto a pass from Ryan Ferguson and although a challenge stopped him in his tracks, the ball fell for Marc Scott whose strike was well blocked by Loons skipper Stuart Morrison for a corner.

Tosh then met a Spencer Moreland corner but his header was blocked before Ewan Loudon had a shot deflected into the arms of McCallum in the Forfar goal.

Despite City’s positive start, the visitors would go on to opening the scoring against the run of play in the 7th minute. A slack back-pass from Lewis Martin allowed RUSSELL MCLEAN in on goal and the striker skipped past the advancing Jamie McCabe before slotting into the empty net.

Just before the quarter hour mark, Anthony McDonald lashed a volley over the bar before former City midfielder Kieran Inglis spurned a glorious opportunity as he broke clear of the City defence but sliced wide of the near post.

On 19 minutes, a cross from Moreland found Loudon 6 yards out but the danger was cleared before he could get a shot away and just a minute later, Moreland stung the gloves of McCallum with a fine effort from the edge of the box.

Forfar grew more into the game later in the half with summer signing Ross MacLean firing a shot wide of the far post before Russell McLean fired a shot straight at McCabe. The City keeper was called into action again shortly after when an attempted clearance by Spark cannoned off McLean and McCabe did well to save with his feet.

Just before the break, Anthony McDonald threaded a perfectly weighted pass in behind the defence for Ewan Loudon who was denied by McCallum before McDonald himself had a shot saved at the near post.

Fraser MacLeod and trialist #20 came on for City at the break, with Anthony McDonald and Spencer Moreland making way. The trialist was straight into the thick of the action as his strike from the edge of the box was blocked by Morrison.

On the hour mark, Kieran Inglis had a shot deflected for a corner for the visitors whilst at the other end, Seth Patrick somehow glanced wide at the far post from MacLeod’s corner.

Trialist #20 continued to impress as he skipped past the challenge down the left hand side of the box but his ball across the face of goal had no takers and was cleared for a corner.

Just a couple of minutes later, there were shouts for a City penalty when Seth Patrick’s volley appeared to strike the arm of a Loons defender inside the box, however the claims were waved away by the referee.

Almost immediately up at the other end, the visitors doubled their advantage. Keeper Jamie McCabe was caught out on the ball by a TRIALIST who gleefully slotted into the empty net.

Marc Scott had a header saved at the near post from Cruickshank’s corner and a few minutes later, Ewan Loudon fired a 20 yard free kick well over the crossbar.

A number of trialists were introduced over the final 5 minutes for City, with one of those unlucky to see his strike deflected wide with the officials incorrectly issuing a goal kick.

In the final minute of the game, Forfar extended their advantage when a trialist lashed home a volley inside the box despite what appeared to be an elbow in the build up inside the box.

Next up in City’s pre-season programme is a home fixture against Charlie King’s Scone Thistle side on Tuesday evening with a 7:30pm kick off.