Montrose 1 – 1 Arbroath
A stunning goal deep in Injury time by an Arbroath trialist meant Terry Masson’s Testimonial match finished a 1-1 draw this afternoon.
A large crowd just shy of 1000 gave Terry a warm welcome as both players gave him and his family a guard of honour as he took to the field.
Arbroath named 3 trialists this afternoon at right back and two midfielders as Cammy Gill made his Arbroath debut as Keaghan Jacobs and Kieran Shanks also made their full starting debuts.
Colin Hamilton returned to the side alongside Jason Thomson, Ricky Little, David Gold, and Dale Hilson with Bobby Linn, Scott Stewart and Derek Gaston on the bench.
Arbroath were without Thomas O’Brien, Nicky Low, Michael McKenna, James Craigen, Dylan Paterson and Luke Donnelly with many players taking the chance to go on a well deserved holiday with their families after a gruelling season.
Arbroath gave a debut to their new macron white away kit which looked very smart under the afternoon sun.
Montrose attacked the Union Row end in the first and were looking dangerous on the break and took the lead in the 10th minute through Craig Brown.
Arbroath were really struggling to test Ross Matthews in the Montrose goal and despite winning a few corners the young keeper wasn’t really tested.
Trialist 35 looked strong on the ball and wasn’t afraid to tackle to win back possession and Kieran Shanks impressed again up front.
Half Time – Montrose 1 – 0 Arbroath
Arbroath had the wind for the second half and started to make more inroads in attacking the Montrose goal with David Gold trying to inspire his team mates from midfield.
Dale Hilson could have drawn Arbroath level in the 55th minute but with substitute keeper Arron Lennox not on his line, Hilson’s shot was wide of the goal.
A minute later and Arbroath should have won a penalty. Trialist 37 ran into the box and was bundled off the ball, but he tried to play on, yet when there was no clear advantage, the crowd expected the referee to point to the spot, but nothing was given, much to the frustration of the supporters who were just feet away from the incident.
On the hour mark Arbroath made two changes with Scott Stewart replacing trialist 34 at right back with Bobby Linn replacing Keaghan Jacobs.
It didn’t take Linn long to make an impression and Kerr Waddell made an acrobatic clearance to stop his cross reaching the middle in the 61st minute.
Just 8 minutes later and there was a minute of action. First of all a Linn cross was deflected onto the post for a corner, and from the resulting corner David Gold was kicked in the chest inside the 18 yard box as he controlled a clearance.
A penalty was awarded and Shanks took responsibility but Lennox made a fantastic save which was equal to Shank’s penalty pushing the ball round the post for a corner kick.
Both teams had chances to score, with a bad miss from Montrose at the back post then another drive across the Montrose goal which was missed.
As it looked like Montrose were going to secure the win, a nothing ball was met by Trlalist #37 who let the ball bounce before calmly smashing an unstoppable volley into the top right hand corner of the goal. It was a stunning strike and a great goal to equalise.
Seconds later and Terry Masson was substituted and got a huge round of applause from both sets of supporters. The former Lichties has had an incredible career with Montrose and 12 years is a long time for any professional footballer.
After Terry left the field, the referee blew the full time whistle before a short presentation was made for Terry.
Full Time – Montrose 1 – 1 Arbroath
It wasn’t quite the friendly match, with some heavy tackles which during normal circumstances would have resulted in a few yellow cards, but it was another work out for the players and Dick to run his eye over some trailists.
Pre-season is still on going but the real competitive action starts again as we travel to Paisley next Saturday.
C’mon the Lichties
Montrose
1 – Ross Matthews (Lennox 45)
7 – Graham Webster
17 – Aidan Queen
5 – Kerr Waddell
19 – Liam Callaghan
6 – Terry Masson (c)
10 – Lewis Milne
12 – Michael Gardyne
22 – Craig Brown
11 – Blair Lyons
16 – Craig Johnston
Substitutes
8 – Paul Watson
9 – Callum Grant
14 – Luca Giacomini
15 – Mark Whatley
23 – Martin Rennie
21 – Aaron Lennox (GK) – 1; 45th
Goal – Brown 10
Arbroath
21 – Cammy Gill
34 – Trialist (Stewart 60)
2 – Jason Thomson
3 – Colin Hamilton
4 – Ricky Little (c)
10 – Keaghan Jacobs (Linn 60)
7 – David Gold
35 – Trialist
37 – Trialist
9 – Dale Hilson
16 – Kieran Shanks
Substitutes
11 – Bobby Linn – 10; 60th
12 – Scott Stewart – 34; 60th
1 – Derek Gaston (GK)
Goal – Trialist 37 90+3
