Arbroath had goalkeeper Darren Jamieson to thank for another vital point this evening at the Locality Hub Bayview Stadium.
Arbroath were without Colin Hamilton due to injury and so David Gold was moved back into the left back role and played alongside Ricky Little, Thomas O’Brien and Jason Thomson in defence with Michael McKenna replacing Gavin Swankie in central midfield playing alongside Mark Whatley. Bobby Linn started on the left wing and Omar Kader coming in to play on the ring wing and Luke Donnelly and Ryan Wallace playing up front.
Ryan Wallace forced Brett Long into a save within 60 seconds as Arbroath looked for an early goal but a foul on Bobby Linn wasn’t given and East Fife broke and opened the scoring in the 6th minute when Rory Currie’s shot hit the near post before ending in the back of the net.
Bobby almost pulled the Lichties level straight away as he skipped past tackles but was caught on the edge of the box with Ross Davidson being shown a yellow card.
Bobby’s free kick hit the wall but Arbroath were moving around the ball well and McKenna and Wallace both had efforts towards goal.
Ryan Wallace was forced off after 23 minutes with what looked like a hip injury after he seemed to fall hard on the 3G pitch after leaping for a header.
Greig Spence came on and just 2 minutes later Arbroath had equalised. Michael McKenna backheeled the ball into the path of Linn who whipped in a cross which was hit towards his own goal by East Fife skipper Mark Docherty.
Brett Long denied the own goal but he could only parry the shot and Luke Donnelly was quickest to react and scored his first Arbroath goal from a tight angle.
Michael McKenna picked up a yellow card in the 36th minute on a foul on Daryll Meggatt.
Thomas O’Brien came close in the 39th minute in a goal mouth scramble before Bobby fired wide on the stroke of half time.
East Fife obviously got a strong talk at half time as Broque Wilson hit the post just a minute after the restart as East Fife enjoyed their best spell in the opening 10 minutes of the second half.
Both sides were going for hit and both Linn and Donnelly hit over after some slick passing moves forward.
Thomas O’Brien was booked for a foul on Jonny Court in the 69th minute before Ryan McCord came on for the booked Michael McKenna.
In the 76th minute Aaron Dunsmore was fouled in the box by O’Brien and Mark Docherty took responsibility.
However he tried to lob Jamieson and DJ made a brilliant save to deny East Fife, as the ball came back out into play there was a made scramble before Kader blocked the follow up.
Steven Doris was about to come on but instead Gavin Swankie replaced David Gold who also looked to have taken a knock.
In the 81st minute Arbroath should have scored. Another great cross from Linn was hit into the 6 yard box but Spence, Donnelly and McCord were all waiting and the ball fell to Donnelly who headed over, then just 60 seconds later Jason Thomson had a header cleared off the line.
As the game entered stoppage time, Darren Jamison pulled of another spectacular save. A header from substitute Kevin Smith seemed destined for the top right hand corner but DJ pushed the ball away with one hand.
A draw was perhaps a fair result in the end with Arbroath retaining their 16 point lead at the top of League One with now only 10 games left.
C’mon the Lichties!
1 – Darren Jamieson
2 – Jason Thomson
3 – David Gold (Swankie 80)
4 – Ricky Little
5 – Thomas O’Brien
6 – Mark Whatley (c)
7 – Omar Kader
8 – Michael McKenna (McCord 73)
9 – Ryan Wallace (Spence 23)
10 – Luke Donnelly
11 – Bobby Linn
Substitutes
12 – Danny Denholm
14 – Greig Spence – 9; 23rd
15 – Ryan McCord – 8; 73rd
16 – Steven Doris
17 – Gavin Swankie – 3; 80th
18 – Colin Hamilton
21 – Darren Hill (GK)
Goal – Donnelly 25
Yellow Cards – McKenna 36, O’Brien 69
Attendance 722
