Arbroath vs Heart of Midlothian – Match Preview
Ladbrokes Championship – Game 02 – Season 2020 / 2021
Friday 23rd October 2020, Gayfield Park, Arbroath, 7.45pm kick off
Arbroath return to Gayfield tonight for League action for the first time since 4th March! Sadly we will be returning to our home but without you, our supporters who make it so special and are always our 12th man.
We welcome Robbie Nielson’s Heart of Midlothian, who last week demolished Dundee in a blistering 6-2 win at Tynecastle live on BBC Scotland. It was a very impressive attacking display from Hearts and Arbroath know they will be in for one of their toughest matches.
Heart of Midlothian make their first league visit to Gayfield since 1980 tonight, back then both clubs were in the Scottish First Division and Hearts left Gayfield with a 1-0 win on 29th March 1980 when a 85th minute goal by Malcolm Robertson gave the Jambo’s the win in front of 4,216 fans.
Heart’s last visited Gayfield during last summer’s pre-season when goals by Luke Donnelly and Steven Doris gave the Lichties victory
Dick Campbell will be without Captain Thomas O’Brien after his red card last Saturday and also without Connor Smith who can’t play against his parent club. Both players will be a huge loss, but without O’Brien in the centre of the defence the Lichties are up against it before a ball is even kicked.
It is hoped that Colin Hamilton will be fit enough to return to the side with some reconfiguration taking place in the centre of defence.
Our last goal in the Championship last season was scored by Craig Wighton who is likely to come up against the Lichties and we all know how big a threat he will pose.
The Hearts team is full of quality from Craig Gordon to Andy Halliday to Steven Naismith to Josh Ginnelly and so many more.
Hearts are likely to be without John Souttar and Christophe Berra with Loic Damour recovering a heel injury rated as doubtful.
It will be an incredibly tough evening for the Lichties but the boys, as always will give it their all for you.
C’mon the Lichties!
Heart of Midlothian (including summer arrivals)
Manager – Robbie Nielson
Assistant Managers – Gordon Forrest, Lee McCulloch
Goalkeeping Coach – Paul Gallacher
Goalkeepers
1 – Craig Gordon (Celtic)
13 – Ross Stewart (Livingston – Loan)
23 – Zdenek Zlamal
Defenders
2 – Michael Smith
3 – Aidy White
4 – John Souttar
6 – Christophe Berra
21 – Stephen Kingsley (Hull City)
25 – Jamie Brandon
26 – Craig Halkett
28 – Mihai Popescu
Midfielders
5 – Peter Haring
7 – Jamie Walker
8 – Olly Lee
11 – Jordan Roberts (Ipswich Town)
16 – Andy Halliday (Rangers)
19 – Andy Irving
20 – Harry Cochrane
22 – Loic Damour
24 – Elliot Frear (Forest Green Rovers)
27 – Lewis Moore
30 – Josh Ginnelly (Preston North End – loan)
36 – Scott McGill
Forwards
10 – Liam Boyce
14 – Steven Naismith
15 – Craig Wighton
31 – Euan Henderson
Tynecastle Departures (and players out on loan)
Aaron Hickey – Bologna, £1.5m
Sean Clare – Oxford United, £100k
Daniel Baur – Spartans
Bobby Burns – Barrow
Rory Currie – Brechin City
Clevid Dikamona – Kilmarnock
Uche Ikpeazu – Wycombe Wanderers
Anthony McDonald – Cordoba
Callumn Morrison – Falkirk
Alex Petkov – Levski Sofia
Conor Washington – Charlton Athletic
Colin Doyle – Kilmarnock, loan
Harry Stone – Stirling Albion, loan
Sean Ward – Gala Fairydean Rovers, loan
Chris Hamilton – Dumbarton, loan
Leeroy Makovora – Brechin City, loan
Connor Smith – Arbroath, loan
Ryotaro Meshino – Manchester City, end of loan
Joel Pereira – Manchester United, end of loan
Toby Sibbick – Barnsley, end of loan
Steven MacLean – retired
Donis Avdijaj
Oliver Bozanic
Ben Garuccio
Marcel Langer
Arbroath vs Heart of Midlothian – Head to Head
Arbroath 2 – 0 Heart of Midlothian – June 29th 2019 – Pre-season friendly
Goals – Donnelly 20, Doris 86
Arbroath 1 – 2 Heart of Midlothian – 3rd July 2018 – Pre-season friendly
Goals – Hester 89, Keera 43, Callachan 85
Scottish League Cup – 1st Round
Heart of Midlothian 4 – 2 Arbroath – Thursday 30th July 2015
Goals – McGhee 57, Sow 60, 61 pen, Wilson 90+3 OG – Gold 40, Grehan 85
Suspensions; Arbroath Captain Thomas O’Brien will sit out for a one-match suspension after his two yellow cards last weekend.
Officials;
Referee – Greg Aitken
Assistant Referee 1- Alistair Mather
Assistant Referee 2 – Billy Baxter
Fourth Official – Graham Grainger
How to watch all the action;
A reminder that tomorrow’s Championship match at Gayfield against Heart of Midlothian is live on the BBC Scotland Channel with a 7.45pm kick off.
If you live in Scotland you can watch the game on Freeview on Channel 9 (SD), or Channel 108 (HD)
Alternatively If you have;
Sky
Channel 115 (HD) if you live in Scotland
Channel 457 (HD) Rest of the UK
Chanel 876 (SD)
Freesat Channel 106 (HD) if you live in Scotland Channel 108 (SD) Scotland, (HD) Rest of the UK Channel 174 (SD) Rest of UK
Virgin Channel 108 (HD) Scotland, Channel 108 (HD) Rest of the UK
There is also the iPlayer which will show the game live.
Matchday Programme
Our matchday programme producers, JJ Sports Promotions Ltd have produced a physical programme for tonight’s game.
Copies of this programme can be purchased for £2 each plus £2 postage and packing, by emailing: terrybrumpton@yahoo.co.uk. It will be full colour and packed with great content and photography, but hurry because there is a limited print run
C’mon the Lichties!
References; http://nareystoepoker.blogspot.com/p/on-this-page-aim-is-to-cover-every_1.html
