A late finish against Elgin City from danger-man Simon Murray was all it took to put Arbroath five points clear at the top of the table on Saturday.
The fiery young player, who earned a booking for his over-exuberant goal celebration, was a constant thorn in City’s side and, given the sheer volume of shots on goal by Arbroath, it was only a matter of time before one got through.
In the hot seat was assistant manager Todd Lumsden.
He said: “At half time we said that, the same as last week, we need to go and win the second half and we thought the longer the game went on, the more chances we would create.
“That’s kind of how games have been going lately: so just stay mentally strong, keep playing and hopefully something will fall our way.”
Although Linn, McManus, Murray and McBride made for a fearsome team, they suffered from a catalogue of miskicks and mistimings that could easily have seen a much more painful scoreline.
However, the visitors were given far too much space to play with, and time and again were able to get close and make stickman Crawford work for his pay and, were it not for a brave leap from Johnstone, an almost dead cert from City’s McPhee could have made all the difference.
Arbroath came charging out of the dressing room after the whistle, but it wasn’t until the 76th minute that Murray was able to slot one low and left into the net.
Tempers were fraying towards the end. McPhee blatantly fouled Careirro with a shoulder barge, and McBride’s protest that Fraser was time-wasting over a spot kick earned them all bookings.
City certainly deserved a point for their efforts, but an ascendant Arbroath had time and opportunity on their side to secure the win.