For the second time this season Forfar’s club captain Gavin Swankie scored an injury-time winner in a seven-goal thriller against Cowdenbeath.
The Blue Brazil were in this one all the way, but while Forfar ended the day seven points clear at the top the Fife outfit went bottom of the table.
Liam Fox’s side had taken the lead with a 30-yard Fraser Mullen free-kick on 20 minutes, but Lewis Milne headed the Loons level on the half-hour, then four minutes from the break Swankie slipped the visitors in front with a close-in finish.
Cowdenbeath levelled on 55 minutes from another fierce Mullen free-kick and Kris Renton went through and fired the home side in front but, within 180 seconds Josh Peters squared things with his 11th goal of the season.
Both sides had chances in the closing quarter and Forfar keeper Grant Adam denied both Renton and Dean Brett, while the woodwork kept out a Stuart Malcolm effort for the visitors, then came the dramatic finish with Swankie taking a David Cox lay-off and firing home.
The striker said that it was the sort of performance that you need to win titles.
“We seemed to be in a good place at half-time but Cowdenbeath came right back at us and went in front,” Swankie said. “But we rolled our sleeves up and dug in and put a lot of effort in to the closing 15 minutes and were rewarded. That sort of fightback can help you win titles.”
Loons manager Gary Bollan said his men showed the character needed to get such an important win.
“We knew we were in for a real scrap here and while I thought there might have been a foul for us just before they went in front, we showed tremendous character to shake off the disappointment and come back to win.
“It sets us up for the big matches coming up against Clyde and Elgin City”.
Fox could not believe that his side had lost to Forfar 4-3 for the second time this season to the last kick of the game, leaving his team one point behind Stirling Albion.
He said: “That was a real kick in the teeth. Yes our defending could have been better at a couple of their goals, but to go into injury time level and to lose to literally the last kick of the game is a big sickener.”