Arbroath 1 – 0 Dunfermline Athletic
Arbroath made it 2 wins in a row after a fantastic win over Dunfermline Athletic thanks to a stunning strike by half time substitute by Luke Donnelly with only his second touch.
Arbroath stuck with the same side that defeated Alloa Athletic 1-0 with new signing Miko Virtanen sitting in the stand watching his new team-mates.
Playing against the strong wind, the Lichties attacked the Switchie end and Bobby Linn came close in the 7th minute only denied by a fine save by Ryan Scully.
Greig Spence again was working hard up front and not giving the visiting defence anytime on the ball.
Spence was booked in the 21st minute for a challenge on Scully, with Danny Devine joining him in the book 3 minutes later for a foul on spence.
The Arbroath midfield matched that work-rate with Murphy, Gold, Whatley and McKenna all chasing the ball whilst Bobby was looking dangerous down the wing.
Arbroath looked comfortable with only a Lewis McCann shot flying past Darren Jamieson’s goal in the 37th minute a half chance.
The Arbroath defence were again working hard as a unit and if one player got pulled out, there was always cover coming in from another defender or one of the holding midfielders.
Just before half time a poor passback and good closing down from Spence almost caught keeper Scully out with Arbroath winning a corner kick simply down to keeping up the pressure.
Luke Donnelly came on for Spence at half time and just 5 minutes later scored a great goal.
Arbroath won possession in their own 18 yard box and the ball was then played up the pitch to Linn who found Donnelly in space and with his second touch of the ball after coming on let the ball roll across his body before hitting it first time from outside the 18 yard box as it flew past Scully at his inside post.
With the wind at their backs Arbroath were well on top with O’Brien hitting a shot from inside his own half forcing Scully into the save before Bobby came close just a minute later.
Dunfermline introduced their on-loan Hearts youngster Harry Cochrane on in the 65th minute before also bringing on strikers Gabriel McGill and Andy Dow, but even with Kevin Nisbet, McGill and Dow up front they couldn’t get a hold of the ball up front.
Josh Campbell came on for David Gold in the 78th minute and within 60 seconds had a strike at goal.
With 2 minutes remaining Mark Whatley hit a well struck shot from 18 yards but it was directly at Scully.
A minute later and Omar Kader replaced Bobby Linn
There was a slight nervousness as Dunfermline won a corner kick in the 94th minute but it passed and Arbroath claimed a deserved victory.
4 games played, 2 wins, 1 draw, 1 defeat, 7 points and 3 clean sheets!
We just take each game at a time.
Thank you for your support!
C’mon the Lichties!
Arbroath
1 – Darren Jamieson
2 – Jason Thomson
3 – Colin Hamilton
4 – Ricky Little
5 – Thomas O’Brien
6 – Mark Whatley (c)
7 – David Gold (Campbell 78)
18 – James Murphy
8 – Michael McKenna
14 – Greig Spence (Donnelly 45)
11 – Bobby Linn (Kader 89)
Substitutes
9 – Steven Doris
12 – Omar Kader – 11; 89th
15 – Luke Donnelly – 14; 45th
17 – Robert Wilson
19 – Ben Stirling
20 – Josh Campbell – 7; 78th
21 – Derek Gaston (GK)
Goal – Donnelly 50
Yellow Cards – Spence 21, Whatley 90+1
Dunfermline Athletic
1 – Ryan Scully
2 – Aaron Comrie
14 – Danny Devine
6 – Lee Ashcroft
4 – Lewis Martin
12 – Kyle Turner
21 – Paul Paton (c)
8 – Tom Beadling (McGill 76)
22 – Josh Coley (Cochrane 65)
15 – Kevin Nisbet
27 – Lewis McCann (Ryan 83)
Substitutes
9 – Gabby McGill – 8; 76th
10 – Andy Ryan – 27; 83rd
16 – Stuart Morrison
23 – Harry Cochrane – 22; 65th
24 – Josh Edwards
26 – Matthew Todd
20 – Cammy Gill (GK)
Yellow Card – Devine 24
Officials;
Referee: Steven Kirkland
Assistant Referee 1: Douglas Ross
Assistant Referee 2: Billy Baxter
Attendance: 1624
