Ray Stewart made one change to last week's victorious team from Recreation Park. Goalscoring substitute Jay Stein returned to the left midfield slot at the expense of Mark Booth. Booth took up a place on the substitutes bench in an otherwise unchanged sixteen. Forfar were on top in the early stages, looking to build on recent good form. The first clear cut chance came through a well worked Loons breakaway. Paul Lunan searched out Jay Stein on the left wing - who in turn planted the ball on the head of Tosh. A fingertip save was required from Woodcock in order to keep the scoreline blank. Ray Stewart's side continued to hold the upper hand in possession, but a combination of sloppy defending and Arbroath's quick closing down nearly resulted in casualty. Alan Rattray and Michael Brown both left the defending duties to eachother and the Loons skipper was required to make a crucial intervention with McLean approaching. Minutes later McLean came close to gaining a reward for his hard work. He successfully executed a slide tackle on Michael Brown, who had overhit the ball, but the ball spun away for a goal kick. Just after the half-hour mark Forfar's pressure paid off with the opening goal. Arbroath looked to have snuffed out a Loons attack but Chris McLeod delayed his clearance and Paul Tosh took full advantage. Using all of his physical strength, Tosh muscled the lanky defender off the ball, looked up, and cut the ball back to strike partner Paul Shields. The ex-Celtic forward made no mistake, hitting the ball low past Woodcock from close range. By now the Loons were in full flow. However, the Lichties managed to hold firm and keep the Forfar attackers at bay until the interval. Steve Kirk was given the task of using his half time team talk to turn the game around. The next fourty-five minutes had the potential to have a major impact on Arbroath's season and they definitely turned out that way. |  Ray Stewart - the perfect start |
Within a minute of the restart the visitors had the perfect chance to equalise. A tempting ball floated in from the left found Gavin Beith in acres of space just outside the six-yard box. With the goal gaping the ex-Dundee player somehow managed to power the ball over the crossbar. Inevitably, the miss was a turning point in the game. About sixty seconds after Forfar were let off the hook they piled the misery on Arbroath. The visitors failed to clear an attempt on goal by Jay Stein, only knocking it in the direction of Paul Shields. Shields reacted quickly and fired a sweet volley past Woodcock into the back of the net. The contact was perfect, leaving the keeper with no chance and giving Shields his fourth goal of the season. No Forfar game would be complete without Paul Shields hitting the woodwork. The big striker duly obliged on the hour mark - crashing the ball off the crossbar. However, once again the Lichties failed to clear their lines and Jay Stein was quick to capitalise. Having opened his Loons scoring account last weekend, the left winger buried the ball past Woodcock from just inside the penalty area. Kevin Toner had been enjoying a relatively easy game with no major decisions to make, but it exploded in controversy with sixty-five minutes on the clock. David McClune centred the ball to the onrushing Barry Sellars. Sellars looked to have the edge on Chris McLeod and was sent tumbling by the ex-Rangers defender. The Arbroath players, under the impression that a penalty was set to be awarded, immediately confronted referee Kevin Toner. However, Sellars was left stunned when he was shown a yellow card for diving. It was only a matter of minutes until the home support's mood turned from fury to celebration. Jay Stein's endless supply of quality crosses continued. The ex-Stenhousemuir forward drove the ball low and hard into the area. Paul Tosh got infront of his marker and powered the ball goalwards with his left foot. Woodcock was left to pick the ball out of his net for a fourth time - but it was not the last. Jay Stein and Martin Maher worked a good crossing position after exchanging passes from a short corner. An inviting ball was sent across the face of goal and David King was on hand to make it five. Without a doubt his first Forfar goal was a justified reward for his tireless work at the back. Forfar pressed for a sixth goal and at the other end Arbroath enjoyed a rare series of chances - but the scoring had came to an end. Forfar went off the park to a great reception from a delighted home support. Five games and five victories for Ray Stewart. Only Dundee stand in the way from number six. | 
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