It wasn’t quite a case of after the Lord Mayor’s show at Station Park on Saturday but for Forfar Athletic it was down to the bread and butter of the league campaign.
Seven days after the Loons deservedly dumped Rangers out of the League Cup, Forfar welcomed the renamed Airdrieonians for what turned out to be a hugely entertaining match.
That wasn’t lost on the Forfar management team of Dick Campbell and his assistant, brother Ian.
Ian said: “We are disappointed but, given the way we played, a draw was probably a fair result. We did not apply ourselves properly and we have got to take a look at ourselves.
“Having said that, it must have been a good game to watch. Both teams went for it and Airdrie look a good side but that is not the way we play.”
His brother agreed: “I did not expect us to play like that. We did not get the ball down and play but we had a lot of changes from last week and some players were carrying knocks.
“I am not happy with taking just a point but, with the way the game turned out, probably ‘satisfies’ is more right.”
Forfar made the breakthrough after 16 minutes with a superb passing move from the back which led to James Dale playing Gavin Malin clear. He drew the keeper and calmly slotted home from 15 yards.
As good as that attack was, Forfar’s defending was as poor for Airdrie’s equaliser in the 31st minute. Lewis Coults got in a cross from the left and James Lister was allowed to rise unchallenged to power a header beyond Darren Hill.
Chris Templeman had an effort scrambled off the line and that missed chance haunted Forfar three minutes after the interval when Airdrie went ahead, Willie McLaren slotting the ball low past Hill at his near post.
Forfar quickly levelled, sub Paul McManus looping home a shot from 20 yards that left keeper Colin Stewart flat footed.
Sixty seconds later, McManus grabbed a second to put Forfar ahead, sliding a seemingly impossible shot from almost the bye-line under the keeper.
Airdrie weren’t out of it yet, however, and in the 64th minute Coults took advantage of a mix-up between defender Neil McCabe and his keeper to roll the ball home into the empty net.