Forfar Athletic enjoyed a successful 2016/17 season which ended in celebration after beating Peterhead in the two-legged play-off final to seal promotion back to League One at the first attempt. The Loons endured a miserable campaign in 2015/16 as Gary Bollan struggled to turn around their form following the sacking of Dick Campbell as manager in December 2015 after seven years in charge at Station Park. They finished bottom of the table and Bollan acted quickly to strengthen the squad last summer including the captures of goalkeeper Grant Adam, full-back Jamie Bain and strikers David Cox and Josh Peters. He also kept hold of influential defender Thomas O’Brien and creative midfielder Gavin Swankie and they made a superb start to the campaign, winning the opening seven league games in a row to go clear at the top of the table. They suffered a wobble in October before returning to winning ways but were never able to shake off the challenge of local rivals Arbroath and a terrible run of just two wins from their last 13 matches saw them overtaken on the penultimate weekend of the season to finish in second place in the League Two table. They recovered from that disappointment to beat Annan Athletic 6-4 on aggregate in the semi-final before thumping Peterhead 7-2 on aggregate in the final and return to League One. Many will feel they deserved promotion having been the division’s top goal scorers with 69. Bollan built his team around a strong spine with Grant Adam an ever-present between the sticks. O’Brien missed just one league game and was voted player of the season for the second year in succession. Winger Danny Denholm came good after a disappointing first season with the club and was one of four players to hit double figures alongside midfielder Lewis Milne and strikers David and Josh Peters. The latter finished as leading goalscorer with 17 in all competitions and the Loons can look forward to next season with plenty of optimism.
