Forres produced two major surprises on Saturday against Clachnacuddin – firstly, after such a good run of away form, how the hell did we lose this game 1-0, and secondly, the return and inclusion in the starting line-up of the self-retired Kyle Scott.
Both decisions leaving the large travelling away support baffled.
Not that Kyle didn’t play well, because he did, slotting into the central defence to replace the suspended Steve Fraser, and looking as though he has still kept himself fit since retiring in January. The magic was still there.
It was a boring midfield battle in the first half, devoid of any real goal-mouth action except a Lee Fraser header straight at the Clach goalkeeper, and it was 37 minutes on the clock before Clach even registered an effort on target.
In the second half Clach played a lot better and got what turned out to be the winner, with 10 minutes remaining, with only their second chance the whole game.
Forres were however guilty of missing several good chances to have been well ahead by then for which Stuart Soane, our best player on the day, was the chief culprit. Forres could have played for another 90 minutes and still not scored – all very disappointing.
With us trailing and having to chase the game, I am totally amazed, yet again, at the timings of our substitutions. A double substitution with only two minutes left on the clock isn’t going to do anything, you would have thought we were the ones winning it was that late, this should have been done as soon as they scored, giving those substitutes coming on enough time to hopefully contribute positively to the game. Regrettably this has now become a regular Charlie Rowley tactic that just doesn’t work. Surely he can see what us fans can see on the pitch.
Next up is a home game against Deveronvale, who we beat earlier in the season, hopefully this will be the next “double“ win in what has been a very up and down season so far.