Montrose 3 – 2 Arbroath
Arbroath suffered their first pre-season defeat tonight at Links Park in a fiery Angus Derby.
Arbroath Manager Dick Campbell made several changes from Sunday with Gaston in goal, then from Right to left, Brian, Wilson, Thomson and Hamilton in defence then Kader, Whatley, Gold and Linn in midfield with McKenna and Swankie up front.
Scott Stewart and Luke Donnelly watched on from the stands as they both nursed knocks.
Montrose seemed up for the game from the first kick and Andrew Steeves opened the scoring in the 27th minute heading in a cross from Sean Dillion. Arbroath almost equalised straight away with Allan Fleming denying Michael McKenna but Montrose added their second in the 32nd minute when Josh Skelly’s mishit shot fell to Graham Webster who couldn’t miss at the back post.
Arbroath introduced Thomas O’Brien, Greig Spence, Steven Doris and trialist James Murphy at the break but Montrose substitute Lewis Milne made it 3-0 in the 66th minute as Montrose looked to have secured the win.
Trialists Jamie McKenzie and Gavin Ritchie came on for Omar Kader and Gavin Swankie in the 67th minute.
Spence and Doris soon began to really harass the Montrose defence and Arbroath pulled a goal back in the 78th minute when Colin Hamilton nodded in a Bobby Linn cross.
A minute later and Arbroath pulled another goal back, this time it was Gavin Ritchie who hit a low drive from 18 yards which sailed past Fleming for a frantic last 11 minutes.
The tackles had been flying in all throughout the game and they seemed to intensify in the final 10 minutes.
Montrose striker Russel McLean and James Murphy suffered a nasty clash of heads with Murphy having to get heavily bandaged with McLean forced off.
There was no more goals as the Lichties went down to their first defeat of the pre-season.
The real stuff starts on Saturday as we welcome Elgin City to Gayfield in our first Betfred Cup game.
C’mon the Lichties
Montrose
1 – Allan Fleming
2 – Cammy Ballantyne (Milne 45)
3 – Andrew Steeves (Callaghan 57)
4 – Sean Dillion
8 – Paul Watson (c)
18 – Iain Campbell (Allan 15)
6 – Terry Masson
22 – Patrick Cregg
24 – Josh Skelly (McLean 61)
7 – Graham Webster
20 – Blair Lyons
Substitutes
19 – Liam Callaghan – 3; 57th
4 – Matty Allan – 18; 15th
11 – Lewis Milne – 2; 45th
9 – Martin Rennie – 10; 85th
10 – Russell McLean – 24; 61st (Rennie 85)
21 – Aaron Lennox (GK)
Goals – Steeves 27, Webster 32, Milne 66
Yellow Cards – Steeves 56, Cregg 80
Arbroath
21 – Derek Gaston
33 – Ciaran Brian (T) (Murphy 45)
2 – Jason Thomson
35 – Robert Wilson (O’Brien 45)
3 – Colin Hamilton
6 – Mark Whatley (c)
7 – David Gold (Spence 45)
12 – Omar Kader (Ritchie 67)
8 – Michael McKenna (Doris 45)
10 – Gavin Swankie (McKenzie 67)
11 – Bobby Linn
Substitutes
14 – Greig Spence – 7; 45th
9 – Steven Doris – 8; 45th
5 – Thomas O’Brien – 35; 45th
32 – Jamie McKenzie (T) – 10; 67th
34 – Gavin Ritchie (T) – 12; 67th
– James Murphy (T) – 33; 45th
1 – Darren Jamieson (GK)
Goals – Hamilton 78, Ritchie 80
Yellow Card – Thomson 89, Murphy 90
Attendance; 421
Referee; Scott Lambie
Assistant Referee 1 – Jordan Stokoe
Assistant Referee 2 – Gordon McCabe
