Forfar boss Jim Weir will take a team full of confidence to Airdrie this afternoon for the League 1 opener with last weekend’s Betfred Cup triumph over St Johnstone still fresh in the memory.
The 2-1 win over Saints propelled the Angus outfit through to the last 16 of the competition and another tie against Premiership opposition in the shape of Livingston.
However, before that game later this month, there is important league business to be negotiated with Weir certain the division will be tougher than ever this season.
The Station Park manager said: “It was great for us to get a victory over a Premiership side like St Johnstone.
“To qualify from the group stage of the Betfred Cup is just excellent.
“We now have a home draw to look forward to against Livingston.
“We know it is another difficult tie and we will be massive underdogs but it is certainly one we should not fear as we did fairly well against the two Premiership teams.
“We lost at Ross County after a run of five straight wins but we managed to get a victory again on Saturday so the team is full of confidence.
“It is a good group of players with a mixture of youth and experience.
“We have competition for places with 18 signed players.
“That is a benefit as well because we are not scrambling through the loan system at the minute as we were last season adding players that we weren’t quite sure of. With the cup ties we had to do that.”
Weir admitted he was pleased with the additions to the squad this summer as well as the recent results but he is fully aware that with the strength of the division this season, Forfar need to get points on the board quickly.
He added: “This year I felt it was important that we looked at areas where we were lacking last season in terms of goals so hopefully Ross Forbes, Andy Jackson, Jordan Kirkpatrick, Callum Tapping, these type of players, can bring that.
“Obviously they are replacing the quality that we lost – we lost a big section of our best players over the summer.
“There is no doubt this year it is a tougher league.
“You have Falkirk and Raith both full-time, you have Airdrie who have a lot of their players full-time, training every day, East Fife have really added well and Peterhead will be strong.
“So it is really important that you look to get off to a good start and we will try to do that at Airdrie to build confidence and keep that winning mentality going.”
Forfar finished second in the table last season before losing out to Raith Rovers in the play-offs.
Weir admitted that while it will be difficult to finish as high this season, he still has ambitions to do so.
The manager added: “I have to be realistic when you have three full-time teams in the league they will start favourites.
“On a personal note if we can achieve anywhere near the sort of run and performances we put together last year, then great. We have to have ambitions to reach that top four.
“I think in itself that would be an achievement but more importantly with it being such a tough and tight league we have to make sure we don’t ever put ourselves in danger.
“Since I have gone in to Forfar, I have had great support from the board of directors, the backroom staff and fans so there is a feelgood factor there at the minute and we want to keep growing that.”
Forfar’s Michael Travis will miss the first two games of the season through suspension.
