St Johnstone 5
Arbroath 0
Forfarshire Cup (First Round)

Match Report

OVERALL : Quiet crowd of approx 200, including a few fellow Lichtie fans, saw AFC compete well for over an hour but then collapse & concede several late poorly defended goals. Scoreline flatters the Saints, but they did look the more likely winners – especially as Kiegan Parker played in the 1st half. Positive points include good performances from McAulay, Newall & Herkes plus seeing that Flyer was fit after being taken off in the Alloa game. Only major negative was the form of Mitchell in goal – he started well but personally contributed to two of the goals and was poorly placed for another two.
TEAMS : AFC started with a R to L 442 of McMullen, Newall, Browne & Graham in front of Mitchell with Henslee, Innes, McAulay & Farquharson in midfield and Herkes & Durno up-front. Subs: Brown, Warren & Kirk plus Woodock was not used. St. Johnstone team appeared to be mainly youth but with some experienced players there too, especially Keigan Parker up-front ( who was returning from illness and did not turn out for the 2nd half ) and Nelson in goal.
FIRST HALF : First 10 minutes saw both sides settle, but chances then came thick & fast via end to end play. Mitchell made an excellent early save at the corner of his bar & post from a hard & high free kick. A strong Henslee run ended with an AFC free-kick out wide. A wasted Saints corner was fed back into our box via a dangerous ball from Parker, which the onrushing Saints midfield just missed. Farquharson followed Henslee’s lead with a strong run into their box, but was called back for what must have been a marginal offside decision. AFC survived a scare via a goal line clearance from a well taken corner. Another good Farquharson run into the box saw him find a well placed Herkes, who was unlucky not to score from a great first time shot. Parker showed his pace down the right, leaving Browne trailing in his wake before breaking into the box & firing a rocket towards Mitchell, who stood up well and deflected the ball to safety. Saints first goal came at the half hour mark and from the penalty spot – Parker won a soft penalty award after his quick break past Newall into the AFC box was ended by a brush against the poorly positioned & onrushing Mitchell. Heading towards halftime saw Farquharson’s pace almost catch out Nelson on his goal line as he failed to collect a passback. Then Saints had two chances – from yet more excellent Parker play where he turned & lost Flyer deep inside the AFC box, then just before the whistle blew Browne lost his concentration & made a poor passback.
SECOND HALF : Unchanged AFC team emerged, but St. Johnstone did not risk Parker any further. End to end play continued for 15 mins, but with the Saints starting to get the upper hand. Mitchell was tested by a well hit edge of box free-kick and a strong physical challenge, which saw the Saints player come off 2nd best. An AFC far side free-kick caused a scrabble in the heart of the Saints box, with the ball breaking to Euan Graham who was unlucky not to score with a well met & driven low shot. Their forwards were stung into action & twice created scares for AFC fans from close range efforts. Herkes returned fire, making a good far side run and then finding Farquharson with a deep cross, but the attempted cutback to a mid-box Durno was cleared. Saints’ 2nd goal came on 70 mins and was a result of another AFC defence / keeper mix-up – first oncoming Saints forward was thwarted by combination of AFC defenders but onrushing Mitchell failed to gather the ball and it rolled into the path of the 2nd forward, who thanked AFC for the gift by tapping in from close range. AFC’s defence were rightly upset, as this effectively killed the game. AFC heads were down and Saints’ tails were up, and it showed – albeit that Innes came close to scoring from a Farquharson corner. Saints 3rd goal was with 10 mins to go and was their best of the night – a well hit return shot from a weak Browne clearance. Their 4th & 5th both came in the dying minutes, and were both from close range tap ins with an AFC defence that was by now at 6s & 7s and a keeper that seemed to have lost the plot and gone walkabout ! Last 15 mins saw 3 Lichtie youngster subs appear – Brown on for Flyer but with the defence shuffling over one berth to place Brown at left back, then Kirk on for Henslee but with Kirk replacing Durno up-front, and then Warren on for Farquharson. AFC also saw 2 yellow cards – Browne for dissent and Flyer for a rash sliding high boot challenge.

Match report written by arbroathfc.org.uk