Dumbarton 2
Arbroath 0
Scottish League (League One)

Match Report

Injury hit Arbroath lost for the first time away from home this afternoon at Dumbarton in a game which was disrupted by torrential rain and a howling gale.

It was a case of a bad day at the office for the Lichties but their troubles weren’t helped as they went into the game without Colin Hamilton and Jason Thomson in defence and Michael McKenna and David Gold in midfield and Ryan Wallace up front.

Trialist Lewis Bell, formerly of Celtic played in a back 3 defence alongside Ricky Little and Thomas O’Brien with Omar Kader, Mark Whatley, Ryan McCord, Gavin Swankie and Bobby Linn in attack and Greig Spence and Luke Donnelly up front.

Arbroath made a good start but found themselves 1-0 down on the half hour mark as for the 2nd game in a matter of days they conceded a penalty when Ross Forbes was tripped after a corner.

Darren Jamieson was within a glove of getting to the ball as Forbes took the penalty himself netting in the bottom right hand corner.

The second half was just getting started when man of the moment Dom Thomas netted Dumbarton’s second goal in the 52nd minute.

There was also a bit of deja-vu when Linn appeared fouled deep in the Dumbarton half but play raged on and Dumbarton broke with Thomas scoring.

As the weather conditions worsened Arbroath made 3 substitutes with Denholm, Doris and McKenna coming on for Kader, Spence and Donnelly.

Michael McKenna was booked for his first foul within 2 minutes of coming on but just 14 minutes later was sent off for simulation in the Dumbarton penalty box. Definitely one to watch later on 36nilTV as at the time it looked like a foul for Arbroath.

Steven Doris had our best chance but the conditions had grown farcical with no team really making much progress.

Full time and the Lichties went down for only their 3rd defeat of the season – ironically their 3rd 2-0 loss.

Raith were held to a draw by Stranraer but Forfar Athletic defeated East Fife 3-0 meaning our gap at the top is now 14 points to our Angus neighbours with 27 points left.

We will regroup and go again.

Match report written by Arbroath FC Official Website