Arbroath picked up their first three points in Premier Sports Cup Group D with an emphatic win against Annan Athletic at Gayfield.
Arran Pettifer’s first half hat-trick stole the show on Thomas O’Brien’s 500th career appearance, with Gavin Reilly making it four early in the second half, before Rocco Hickey-Fugaccia and Nikolay Todorov scored their first goals in maroon to round off an impressive 6-0 victory.
Co-Managers Colin Hamilton and David Gold made four changes from the side that lost to Ayr United at the weekend, with Jordan Pettigrew making his first start in goal, while Aaron Steele, Luke Kenny and Reilly also came into the lineup.
There was an early chance for the Lichties when Ryan Dow picked up the ball in the area after some defensive slackness, but his effort was straight at Gio Clarke.
Dow was involved in everything early on and after clipping another effort across the face of goal, he then almost turned provider, slipping a great ball through for Reilly, who dragged his shot beyond the far post.
The deadlock was broken on the half hour mark though, with Marshall sliding a great ball across the box that was just out of the reach of Reilly, but Pettifer was on hand to slot home his first goal for the club.
Just two minutes later, the midfielder was on the scoresheet again, after being left unmarked to nod the ball beyond Clarke from close range.
Annan looked a bit flustered at the back and were lucky not to find themselves three behind, with Tommy Muir letting the ball slip under his foot to allow Reilly in on goal, but the striker couldn’t find a way past Clarke.
On the stroke of half-time though, that third goal did come. Dow was involved once more, picking the ball up on the right before squaring it for Pettifer to complete his hat-trick with the simplest of finishes.
Arbroath took just six minutes after the break to add to their lead, with Reilly managing to find a way through. The striker picked the ball up on the edge of the area before picking his spot, with a fine left footed drive into the bottom corner.
It was one way traffic for the Lichties and they made it five midway through the second half, with substitute Hickey-Fugaccia finding the target just minutes after coming on, tapping the ball into the empty net after Dow’s assist.
The Arbroath trialist then went close with a low shot that flashed just past the post and that was just a further warning for Annan which they did not heed, Todorov heading home number six with just under ten minutes to play.
That performance sees the Red Lichties climb to third in the group and they’ll be looking to finish as high up the table as possible when it comes to an end on Saturday, with a trip to Station Park to face Forfar Athletic.
Arbroath: Pettigrew; Steele, Kenny, O’Brien, Wilkie; Pettifer (Spalding, 79), Cochrane (Callachan, 67); Stewart (Hickey-Fugaccia, 60), Marshall (Trialist, 60), Dow; Reilly (Todorov, 67)
Annan Athletic: Clarke; Trialist (Allan, 73), T. Muir, Todd, Gilmour (Deveney, 60); Gibson (R. Muir, 60), McGowan (Barlow, 73); P. Smith (Bryson, 90), Maxwell, A. Smith; Gaffney
Attendance: 622
