With the light failing rapidly as the game came to a close this afternoon at Forfar West End by the time it got to speaking to manager Phil McGuire it was too dark to film but we still sat down to reflect on another three points for The Gowfers.
The run continues and thats eleven without defeat and the highest points total in the Super League after todays 2-0 win at Forfar West End
Yes it’s excellent form but that’s all it is as you are only ever as good as your last game. We will continue to treat every game as it is and work during the week on how we can create opportunities to give us a positive result. We know it takes a lot more than just turning up and trying to do the basics correctly, It takes so much more than that as a team to win football matches.
West End set up with five at the back and tried to stifle us but some of our approach play, particularly in the first half was excellent?
Yes it was a very defensive line up with their game plan trying to counter us. They made things difficult in how they played by trying to be hard to break down. I must give credit to the players however as we dominated the match start to finish and ironically when we should have been caught out on a counter we showed great awareness and countered their attack to take a deserved lead.
I felt our work rate and determination to close down and demand the ball was excellent, on another day we could and should have been four or five up at the break, some determined dogged defending and fine saves kept the score line respectable. I felt our 4-3-3 shape would always cause them issues and our ball players dictated the tempo. We allowed West End maybe five minutes in the second half to try get back into the game and look for openings so they actually started better than us, but soon we dealt with that and grew stronger and more dominant which resulted in us scoring a great team goal for the second.
In the end I don’t think our keeper made any saves and as much as the score line didn’t reflect our control of the game, a win is a win and clean sheets are important.
It was a very stop start game and the game saw eight bookings but not really a bad tackle in the game that cant have helped
Very much so, without any bad tackles in the game, yes maybe 1 or 2 badly timed that went unpunished but overall I felt it restricted the flow to the game. It was important that we didn’t allow that to distract us though and we remained concentrating at all times. Games like these you can concede a goal from nothing and we knew West End would put any free kicks or opportunities into the box but defensively we marshalled it all with Jamie organising in front of him.
We now move on to next weekend and our second trip of the season to Whitton Park to face Broughty Athletic
Yes it is another away game, it’s also a game that we know nothing other than our best both with and without the ball will end up with it being a difficult afternoon. You can look at league positions and stuff but at the end of the day any team in this league can beat you if you don’t have the right mindset and mentality. Broughty are a very good team and are one of the favourites for winning the league. With their squad of players and options available to them we know it’s going to be hard but we have to be positive in our abilities and what we control and if we do all of that then I can’t ask for anymore.
Finally, a word about the man of the match, Steven McPhee, he covered every blade of grass and appeared all over the park wanting the ball.
The wee man was excellent today but in fairness has been excellent all season. When you have players who want to play in your team it’s great, what we have is players who want the ball and work hard to keep it and win it back all over the pitch. It is a compliment the group are like that and Stevie has an understanding of his game and how he best serves that with his own standards and performances this season, so he is a thoroughly deserving man of the match.
