Arbroath have gone seven unbeaten after collecting yet another crucial point from Saturday’s draw with title-chasing Dundee.
Championship survival is well within their grasp, if they can maintain the level of performance they have shown in the last six weeks.
And with the club coffers bolstered by the biggest home attendance in 11 years, it appears good times are just around the corner for Arbroath.
Courier Sport was at a sun-kissed Gayfield on Saturday and here are four Arbroath talking points from that 0-0 stalemate:
Arbroath v Dundee: Crowded house
Action ready to kick off at the Costa del Gayfield. pic.twitter.com/T3xnCE10Fl
— Ewan Smith (@ewansmithpr) April 8, 2023
It had been the talk of the Arbroath steamie all week.
How many fans were going to pack into Gayfield for Dundee’s visit?
Initial reports suggested the crowd would top 4,000. On Wednesday, it was clear the crowd was going to edge towards 5,000.
By Saturday it reached 5,563.
Kick-off was delayed for what was Arbroath’s biggest home gate since 5,985 turned out for a 4-0 defeat to Rangers in 2012.
Aberdeen, Celtic, Dundee United, Hearts and Hibernian have all visited Gayfield in the intervening period and not come close to the numbers we saw on Saturday.
It was the second biggest crowd anywhere in the Championship this season. The biggest was Dundee v Arbroath in January when 5,930 turned up.
Arbroath’s average gate is also currently up to 2,097 – an increase of 389 on last season’s figures.
Given the fact they came while Arbroath were challenging for promotion to the Scottish Premiership, it underlines how loyal the Lichties have been.
They are currently the fifth best-supported league in the Championship.
Gates like Saturday’s will further bolster the coffers of a club that is in a strong financial position but further underline the need to stay in the league.
It also begs the question, what would the crowds look like if Arbroath were back fighting at the top end of the table?
The Maroon Wall
Arbroath kept their fifth clean sheet in six games to collect a point against Dundee.
They’ve only conceded one goal in 540 minutes of Championship football blanking out the entire top four – Dundee, Queen’s Park, Ayr United and Partick Thistle – in that run.
Praise has to go to a defence expertly-marshalled by skipper Tam O’Brien, an ever-reliable Ricky Little and wing-backs Lewis Banks, Colin Hamilton and stand-in Steven Hetherington.
Keeper Derek Gaston must also be a real contender for Championship Player of the Year.
But Arbroath’s strength, their DNA, is defending from the front.
And no team likes playing against what has become an eleven-man ‘maroon wall.’
How close are Arbroath to Championship survival?
On paper, this was one of Arbroath’s toughest remaining fixtures.
They still have to visit Inverness, Raith and Partick, with Cove and Hamilton to come at home.
But they lost no ground on Saturday on relegation rivals Cove and Hamilton and chalked off another week.
They now have the chance to widen the gap on Cove with their game in hand at Inverness on Tuesday.
Victory there would increase the cushion over bottom side Cove to EIGHT with four games left.
They’ll also be hoping Morton can do them a favour as they host Hamilton.
By Tuesday at 9.30pm, Arbroath could be six ahead of Accies and eight clear of Cove with four to play.
Or they could be level with Hamilton, albeit with a superior goal difference, and five better off than Cove.
It’s still very much in the mix but these midweek fixtures could prove crucial.
Scott Allan back in the fold
Scott Allan made his first appearance in almost five months with a late substitute run-out against Dundee.
The fact he was back on the pitch speaks volumes about the man-management of Dick Campbell and Allan’s determination to dig in to win his place at Arbroath.
Allan is one of the most naturally-gifted players in the Championship.
His technical skills have, though, been sacrificed for more battle-hardened midfielders in recent months.
Allan has overcome battles his entire life, having defied the odds to play with diabetes and heart condition hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
And he definitely has the mental resolve to fight for his place in the Arbroath team.
His limited impact at Arbroath to date doesn’t make him a bad player.
Yes, there’s an argument to suggest that in Arbroath’s recent predicament he has been a luxury they can’t afford.
But he could also be the missing piece to unlock a defence with one trademark killer through ball.
If he can overcome the ankle knock he sustained on Saturday, wouldn’t it be fitting for one piece of magic from the ex-Dundee, Dundee United and Celtic star to help keep Arbroath up?
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