Robbie Horn made two changes to the Rose team that suffered defeat to Dumbarton last weekend, with Scott Gray and Aaron Arnott returning to the starting XI.

It took nearly ten minutes for the first chance to come at Station Park. A Nathan Flanagan cross to the back post was pushed back across goal by Adam Hutchinson, but was heroically cleared by Josh Grigor before it could sneak inside the back post.

Craig Thomson tested Paddy Martin low at his near post, before a quick counter saw Rose skipper Jonny Stewart play in Aaron Arnott at a wide angle. The young loanee’s ferocious strike stung the hands of a brave Marc McCallum but was kept out with relative ease.

After 27 minutes, Rose had the chance to take the lead from the spot. Keiran McGachie cleverly got in front of McCallum in a stramash and went down after feeling a clip to his ankle. The Loons shot-stopper couldn’t atone for his error as Neil Martyniuk stepped up and slammed home his 6th goal of the season.

Less than 10 minutes later, Rose had the ball in the back of the net again when McGachie nodded home an inch-perfect Martyniuk cross – only for it to be ruled out for offside.

After a quiet period following the interval, Rose’s last true chance came with 22 minutes to go. Incredible work from Arnott crafted a quick counter for substitute Robbie McGale and McGachie, with the latter’s cross to Ross Gray was excellently put just wide off the post by a recovering Forfar defender.

From that opportunity to the final whistle, it was one-way traffic as a resilient Rose backline set up shop and defiantly defended Martin’s goal. Mark Docherty was denied by Martin at the back post, Armour saw an under-the-wall free-kick held with ease, and a Stefan McCluskey overhead kick was cleared to safety by Martyniuk.

Despite The Loons knocking on the door, Rose never seemed like conceding and Forfar failed to grab their equaliser. That huge result pushes Rose up to 8th in the table ahead of next weekend’s trip to Annan.

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