Match Report - By John Hoey

John Hoey Tojohn.hoey2@btinternet.com Brechin City 3 ForfarAthletic 4

Forfar Athletic gave their play-off hopes a massive boost after winning an enthralling and exciting derby match by 4-3.

Dale Hilson, Michael Bolochoweckyj, Gavin Malin and Gavin Swankie were all on the mark for the Loons while Graham Hay and Alan Trouten with a double scored City's goals.

Trailing by 3-0 early in the second-half it looked at that stage as if City were going to be on the end of a hammering but the players fought back magnificently to reduce the deficit to 3-2 and even when the visitors made it 4-2, City fought backs again to score a third goal and they were definitely unfortunate not to get a share of the spoils at the end of the day.

The result sees Forfar close the gap on City to just three points having played two games more.

The Loons pushed forward from the outset and grabbed the opener after 12 minutes.

Templeman laid the ball off superbly for Hilson whose right-foot drive sailed into the top corner of the net.

The visitors continued to put a lot of pressure on the City defence and they deservedly doubled their lead after 33 minutes when Michael Bolochoweckyj rose above the home defence to head home Iain Campbell's corner.

The Loons started the second-half as they finished the first and they went 3-0 up three minutes into the half.

Hilson picked up the ball on the right and raced clear of the home defence before squaring the ball across the face of the goal for Malin who wasted no time in despatching a left-foot drive into the bottom corner of the net.

City tried to get themselves back into the game and they were unlucky not to reduce the deficit when a Ryan Ferguson shot came back off the bar after 52 minutes but they made the breakthrough five minutes later when Graham Hay blasted home from close-range.

The hosts continued to press and they got their reward after 76 minutes when a Ferguson shot was parried by Darren Hill into the path of Trouten who made no mistake from around five yards out.

However the Loons wrapped up the points in style with six minutes remaining when Jordon Brown played a great pass through to Gavin Swankie who fired home a beauty from the edge of the box.

City came back again though and a Trouten drive from the edge of the box with three minutes remaining reduced the deficit to just one goal again but try as they might City were unable to grab a late equaliser.

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