Arbroath 4 v 2 Stranraer

[steeplejack]

Arbroath cruised to victory in another windy game,
We played with the strong wind in our face in the first half and looked to be on course for heading in at half time goalless, until about the 43 minute when a Sheerin shot from just inside the box was turned home by the alert McManus.
Buoyed by this we storming out out in the second half and Cook raced from the half way line, with the Stranraer defence retreating, unleashed a shot from 18 yards out into the bottom corner to double the lead.
Two minutes later Cook stroked a lovely goal into the other corner to put us three up, at this point we were cruising and giving the Stranraer defence a torrid afternoon, but our defensive frailties resurfaced when we conceded a soft goal to give Stranraer a lifeline. We seemed to loose momentum after this and the game became disjointed and stretched.
Both keepers had saves to make but with the wind in our backs Sheerin scored direct from a corner, in a way only the legendary Andy Penman could.
As

[charlesedwardstewart]

Airdrie v East Fife. Forfar v Arbroath
East Fife v Brechin. Arbroath v Dunfermline
Ayr Utd v East Fife. Airdrie v Arbroath


Looks like it could go down to the wire, c'mon the Lichties we can do it

[Bellevue]

Steeplejack summed up the match perfectly, losing a second goal did take the shine off an otherwise good performance and I also thought Nicoll was best for us. Hope it isn't too little too late, points will be hard to come by in the two away games and the home one against Dunfermline, but well done to the team, they managed to cope with the wind today.

[Arbroath1]

Spot on thought Nicholl oustanding again, with Sheerin not far behind. Defense suspect again but been the story of the season though, will miss Big Kev against Forfar on a plus side i hope we can keep MCManus as he has been a revelation up front a tireless worker. The nail in the coffin has been East Fifes last two games ie winning against Dunfermline and Brechin i think they had put nice run together before yesterday. Lovely football yesterday but leave ourselves open at the back, but as Sheerin said at AGM that is his style WE LEAVE OURSELVES MAYBE TOO OPEN.

Ah well it,s entertaining if nothing else.

Let,s dream for nine points...

[ectolichtie]

Were very good yesterday, shows what having a proper centre-forward can do, McManus leads the line, kept their defense busy which gives others room to play, but have to agree lost two soft goals again, Stanraer do look a shadow of the side of a few weeks ago, whether we stay up or not, a decent end to this poor season is important

[Nonsmokingsmokie]

Agreed that we need to finish the season as well as we can regardless of the final outcome - it sets the tone for the close season and beyond.

Our second 4-2 victory in around a month was a pleasant experience for the longsuffering Lichtie fans after the winter drought

The timing of our goals was spectacularly effective - one just on halftime then two killers just after. Maybe the main difference between the teams?

Stranraer looked competent but we contained their attacking threat reasonably well throughout the game with the exception of the customary lapses (as with our other 4-2 victory)

What is the position with Alan Cook re-signing? He has a good eye for goal and a good workrate as well as being a tricky No 11? With Bobby Linn rampaging all over the park and Mcmanus doing great work as a busy centreforward, that's the making of a potent strikeforce especially in a lower league.

Let's make a decent showing at Forfar, even without Kevin Nicholl

[AFC1320]

I thought we were superb yesterday in a difficult wind against a very good Stranraer team, I thought Nicoll again was mom closely followed by McManus and great displays by the Gaffer, Linn and Cook and Keddie, also Morrison played well and Hammy looked back to his best.

Disagreed with the subs as I would have brought on Banjo as a direct replacement for Chiz.

All to play for though, C'mon the Lichties.

[Mr_Refhater]

Great performance from the lads yesterday! On the whole an entertaining game to boot. Excellent. Overjoyed to hear of Stenny's winner.

However, in all honesty, Ross Chisholm was again absolutely woeful and the substitutions were bewildering. Both observations have been commonplace this campaign.

Still, we can do this guys! Lets stay up, where we truly belong!!!

[smokie_bacon_crisps]

Full credit to Alan Cook. It is in today's Courier that he has only trained once (due to ankle ligament problems) in the last three weeks but is determined to fight for the club in their relegation battle.

Great fighting spirit from him and the rest of the team, especially with his two goals and assist last week.

Also explains why he is the first player to come off. Hopefully he can play through the pain barrier a little more and add to his 12 goals this season.

We can do it!

[DougLichtie]

Not one to repeat myself but Chisholm must be doing something outwith the 90 minutes on a Saturday to still be getting a game.
How lucky are we to have Kevin Nicoll who is practically doing the job of two men.
Great result and great spirit shown by our "10 men"...