Murray Loudon grabbed his first Airdrie goal but it wasn't enough to stop Forfar winning an entertaining league opener at Station Park.

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The hosts had former Airdrie boss Gary Bollan in the dugout with former players Jamie Bain, David Cox, Jim Lister and Simon Mensing lining up for the home side.

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It was Airdrie who were first to threaten in two minutes as good build up with Kieran MacDonald and Ryan Conroy sent Adam Brown down the left as he raced to the line and fired over a dangerous cross that was cleared away.

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Four minutes later a curling free kick by Ryan Conroy was comfortably cleared away by the tall keeper Marc McCallum.

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Forfar then took the game up the park and after making some space on the right for himself Bain’s cross picked out David Cox who sent his headed attempt over Rohan Ferguson’s goal.

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Ousman See was next up in nine minutes as the home side fired in another high cross, but he was also off target with his attempt.

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After more good link up play between MacDonald and Brown down the left, Airdrie went close to opening the scoring after 11 minutes when Brown’s cross was met by Andy Ryan who sent his header wide to the left of McCallum’s post.

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Forfar’s high ball policy was providing a threat and Mark Millar was on the end of a cross in 14 minutes only to see his effort come back off the crossbar.

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Airdrie keeper Ferguson reacted well eight minutes later to push another goal attempt, this time Marc Scott, over his crossbar.

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It was an end-to-end match with both sides threatening, and a spell of pressure from Airdrie saw Brown’s 24th minute curling far post ball saw McCallum produce a good reaction save to push the ball away from goal.

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As Conroy and Loudon broke into the penalty box trying to get a shot off Loudon went to ground with any penalty claim refused on the 25-minute mark, while three minutes later terrific interplay from Ryan, Brown and Conroy saw the midfielder blast a shot over the top.

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Eddie Malone joined his side's attack three minutes from the interval and forced Ferguson into a decent save, but in time added on a cross from the left saw Cox force the ball over the line to break the deadlock.

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After the break Airdrie showed a good reaction to having fallen behind and took the game to their hosts.

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The Diamonds scored a deserved equaliser in the 58th minute after good play on the right led to Brown firing a ball across the face of goal and Loudon at the back post sending it into the back of the net.

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Five minutes later Forfar were back in front after Millar made ground towards the penalty box then sent a 20 yard shot that looped up and into the net with the aid of a deflection.

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For some 15 minutes the heavens appeared to have opened up and the rain lashed down with stoppages frequent in the slippery conditions. 

When the weather conditions returned to normal, both sides struck the woodwork in the closing minutes with a Michael Travis header clipping the bar with five minutes left while substitute Cammy Russell also sent a headed attempt off McCallum’s bar a minute later.

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In the end it was a similar outcome to two years ago when the sides met on the opening day of the league fixtures and Forfar took all three points.

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Referee: Mr Steven Reid

Attendance: 674