Dunfermline boss Allan Johnston has challenged his players to complete an early-season double over Forfar tomorrow and knock the Loons off the top of the League One table.
The Pars have already tasted success over Dick Campbell’s side on the artificial surface at Station Park in the Petrofac Cup.
Forfar currently sit in pole position in the league, one point above Johnston’s team, and the East End Park boss is determined that will change.
He said: “It’s going to be a tough game. They’re always well organised, they’ll definitely be up there at the end of the season challenging.
“But there’s a long way to go.
“It’s obviously an important game to win, but there are a lot of games left in the season no matter what happens.
“They have good players and they did really well last season they were really unfortunate not to go up.
“They’ve got a lot of quality in their team.
“But that was last year and we’ve just got to concentrate on the here and now, not worry about other teams, and make sure we’re successful this season.
“The positive thing is we went there and got a result the last time.
“So, we can’t blame the pitch, it’s a good pitch to go and play on and we know that if we win we go top of the league.
“I don’t think we need any more incentive than that.”
Johnston he was pleased that no-one came in during the transfer window for any of his players, especially star striker Faissal El Bakhtaoui.
He said: “If you look at all our strikers they’re all scoring goals Michael Moffat, Ryan Wallace, Faiss so it’s really encouraging.
“We want to keep all our best players anyway.
“We want to be successful this season and Faiss is a massive part of what we’re trying to do, so we definitely don’t want to lose him.
“He’s started the season really well and he’s got massive potential.
“But we’re not interested in other teams being interested in him.”
Johnston will pull on his boots once again to take part in the Jock Stein charity match at East End Park on Sunday.
He is not sure how long he will last in the game but he joked the most important thing is being out on the pitch longer than club coach John Potter.
Johnston added: “It will be great to play on Sunday. I think there’s going to be a big crowd there as well.
“I don’t know how long they’ll get out of me, right enough, but as long as I’m on for longer than Pottsy I’ll be happy!”