Gutsy Arbroath hang on for revenge derby win

No Lichtie came to the game with great expectations. It was a sunny afternoon at Gayfield but the wind was picking up. John McG changed things around from Wednesday's game by dropping Campbell and Ferguson, preferring a Bishop-Rattray central defence pairing with Flyer and Roddy Scott wide. Nicky Smith made a welcome first start in about 4 months.

We kicked off to the harbour end with sun and strong wind at our backs so had the upper hand. After the early exchanges a long ball out from Hill beat their high defensive line for Scott to run on and smash neatly past Peat on 11 minutes. We had some half chances from corners but as the half wore on Montrose came more into it, forcing corner themselves and an amazing pinball incident in our penalty area before it was cleared. After Bishop was fouled on the edge of their box after the half hour mark mark, Scott McBride line up with Barry Sellars and it was, surprisingly the former that smashed in the freekick off the underside of the bar.

Halftime we knew it would be a struggle second half in the teeth of the strong wind. But we came close ealry on withy Bishop heading inches wide from a corner. The rest of the game was played largely in the Arbroath defensive third and we struggled to break free with our forwards not getting a sniff. But although always threatening with the wind, Montrose didn't create much. They were overhitting crosses.

The officials, poor all game, really incensed the home support. After some strange decisions (including a series of plain wrong calls for corners, throw-ins), Hill was booked for timewasting in spotting the ball - yet he probably was doing it quicker than Peat had first half. Then the Montrose forward dived over McBride's leg to win a free kick out wide (for which McBride was booked) and Hunter had a clear header on 76 minutes. That left about 20 minutes to hold out. A speculative Montrose shot hit out bar a couple minutes from the end, just after Tosh nearly scored at the other end.

This was an important win for the Lichties. It gave us some revenge for the 5-0 New Year drubbing, it kept us well in the play-off race and importantly, denied Montrose points - vital since they're vying for the same playoff slots.

Not a great Lichtie performance, Montrose probably had more of the ball, but we showed plenty of character and cool, looking fairly solid at the back again.

Boring segregation but at least our (harbour) end was where most of the action in both halves. A few more from Montrose than usual at the away end but still a lame turnout in the 959 present. Even a little bit of youth aggro as the occasional would-be ned was ejected and they left en-masse to taunt the Mo support from outside the ground. Real fitba lovers