With strong winds again swirling round Gayfield it was the Lichties who had the first half advantage with the wind at their backs and laid siege to the Stenhousemuir half with a Luke Donnelly shot being blocked on the line before Steven Doris rattled the cross bar with a header.

Arbroath looked certain to take the lead when Alan Reid flattened Danny Denholm with referee Mike Roncone pointing to the spot however after a long delay Bobby Linn took the penalty but uncharacteristically hit the ball over the bar – showing that this season’s star man is human after all.

Stenhousemuir scored deep into stoppage time with David Marsh bundling the ball over the line with Darren Jamieson claiming he was pushed into his own net.

Half time – Arbroath 0 – 1 Stenhousemuir

Arbroath had to battle with the strong wind but Stenhousemuir scored a second killer goal just 11 minutes into he second half when Mark McGuigan raced on with the Arbroath defence appealing for offside but McGuigan doesn’t miss and scored his 5th goal of the season against the Lichties.

From there on in it became a difficult task for the Lichties with the tall back line of the Stenhousemuir defence happy to launch the ball downfield at every opportunity and not even Arbroath substitutes could inspire a comeback.

There was drama late on as Stenhousemuir defender Morgyn Neill was shown a straight red card for gesturing to the home support.

A bitter blow in the title race with Raith Rovers winning at home to Airdrieonians the gap is now down to 12 points with 24 to play for.

We will regroup and go again next Saturday when we host East Fife at Gayfield.

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 – Danny Denholm
8 – Luke Donnelly (Wallace 63)
9 – Steven Doris (Spence 64)
10 – Gavin Swankie
11 – Bobby Linn (McCord 72)

Substitutes

12 – Greig Spence – 9; 64th
14 – Omar Kader
15 – Ryan McCord – 11; 73rd
16 – David Gold
17 – Ryan Wallace – 8; 63rd
21 – Darren Hill (GK)

Yellow Card – Swankie 90+1

Stenhousemuir

1 – Graeme Smith
2 – Alan Reid
4 – Morgyn Neill
19 – Andy Munro
5 – David Marsh
7 – Kieran Gibbons (Dickson 69)
15 – Thomas Halleran
22 – Conor McBrearty (Ferry 22)
11 – Allan Cook (c)
9 – Mark McGuigan
24 – Greg Hurst (Watters 82)

Substitutes

3 – Ruaridh Donaldson
6 – Mark Ferry – 22; 22nd
16 – Sean Dickson – 7; 69th
21 – Ryan Watters – 24; 82nd
17 – Lewis McMinnn (GK)

Goals – Marsh 45+3, McGuigan 56

Yellow Card – Marsh 77

Red Card – Neill 90+1

Attendance; 719

Referee – Mike Roncone
Assistant Referee 1 – Jordon Stokoe
Assistant Referee 2 – Alex Shepherd