A fifth successive home win saw us stretch our lead at the top of the table after Arbroath went down to a narrow defeat at Albion Rovers.

The first 45 minutes did not see a lot of good football but Forfar were forced to make a change after a first minute challenge from home skipper Robertson.

He put in a hard tackle on Jordon Brown, who went down heavily and needed to be stretchered off inside the opening seconds.

The referee did not see anything sinister in the tackle and simply awarded a free-kick but Brown needed hospital attention for ligament damage which sees the on loan Aberdeen youngster out for the remainder of the season.

Cowden's chances were limited to an Adamson shot, which went wide in the early stages, and a Robertson drive after 20 minutes which was a couple of yards off target.

Forfar also found openings difficult to come by and their best efforts were aShaughnessy shot, which roared wide from 25 yard out and a Fotheringham free-kick which Flynn fisted to safety.

Cowden started the second-half aggressively and in 52 minutes Adamson worked his way into the box and saw his low shot blocked by keeper Paterson and in 59 minutes Lewis Coult opened the scoring with his second touch, after coming on as a substitute.

Linton made the opening with a good piece of work down the left and his pass inside set up the big striker whose 17 yarder flew low into the net.

The Loons responded with a Bishop shot which flew over from close in but in 68 minutes we were two ahead.

McKenzie's fine run saw him find Greg Stewart 12 yards out as the ball broke off  Shaughnessy the front man gave Paterson no chance.

Three minutes later the third came when McKenzie again caused the danger and he found Stewart who slotted home his second goal of the afternoon.

But two minutes later Forfar pulled one back when a loose clearance was met first time by Nicky Low and his angled volley gave Flynn no chance.

Then five minutes later Bishop's shot hit the joint of the bar and post and bounced to safety and to their credit the Loons never gave up but ran out of ideas in the closing minutes.