Arbroath drew for the third consecutive match as they failed to break down a resolute Ross County side, who finished the game with just nine men on the park.
Two dangerous challenges from Kaedyn Kamara and Ross Docherty in either half saw the Staggies shown two red cards, but Arbroath couldn’t make their numerical advantage pay with a 0-0 draw that suited neither side.
The Lichties line-up showed three changes from the side that drew 1-1 with Ayr United in midweek, with Thomas O’Brien, Gavin Reilly and Harry Cochrane coming into the side for the visit of County.
A first half of few chances was changed at the midway point when the visitors were reduced to ten men. The ball broke loose in the middle of the park, with Kaedyn Kamara lunging into a challenge on Craig Watson that left referee Calum Scott with no choice but to send the midfielder down the tunnel.
County free kicks from Dean Cornelius and Conor Randall were the closest the visitors came to opening the scoring, with the first dropped by Aidan McAdams before Randall saw his deflected narrowly wide.
While for the Lichties, Reilly was involved in their best chances, teeing up Aaron Muirhead to shoot wide before getting on the end of Findlay Marshall’s cutback, but being unable to find a way to goal.
In truth, the second half wasn’t much better. It began with a booking for Marshall after a push on Docherty, the first of nine yellow cards in a battling half of football.
Reilly was again involved just shy of the hour mark as Arbroath looked to put their extra player to good use, but after a stramash in the box he couldn’t quite get a clear shot away and the chance went begging.
Kieran Phillips sent a header goalwards for the visitors on one of their rare forays forward after the break, but with little conviction in the header, it was easily saved by McAdams.
Four minutes from the end, the game was sent into chaos as County were reduced to nine men following a stupid challenge on Scott Robinson from Docherty. With the Arbroath sub seemingly heading nowhere, Docherty inexplicably launched into a scissor motion type tackle to earn himself a red card, prompting a response from Robinson who was then shown a yellow.
The Lichties forward was one of four players to pick up a booking in the ensuing melee, along with Randall, Aaron Muirhead and Declan Gallagher.
Unsurprisingly following those events, the stoppage time was extended, and Arbroath had one final chance to come away with all three points, but Ryan Dow’s sliding effort was just too high as it flew over the bar to bring a narrow contest to a close.
Arbroath: McAdams; Watson (Dow, 65), Muirhead, O’Brien, Wilkie; Cochrane (Beadling, 65), Flynn; Stewart, Marshall (Robinson, 65), MacIntyre; Reilly
Ross County: Carson; Randall, Wright, Gallagher, Pitan, Reid (Mackie, 83); Cornelius (Lindsay, 73), Docherty, Kamara; White (Crompton, 88), Carbon (Phillips, 74)
Attendance: 1,325 (89 away)
