The concession of two goals in just three minutes to Annan Athletic sent Arbroath crashing to defeat in their opening home game of the season.
The Lichties started brightly, but on 37 minutes a Jordan Holsman cross found the head of David Cox for Annan’s opener and just three minutes later Cox turned provider when his corner was bundled over the line by Kevin Neilson.
The home side threw everything they had at Athletic but, despite winning 13 corners to their visitors’ two, couldn’t find a way through to goal.
Arbroath player-manager Paul Sheerin, who replaced himself with Ian Nimmo with just over 10 minutes of the match remaining, said, “It was a funny kind of game. We had a lot of possession and we huffed and puffed but I can’t recall too many real chances.
“Danny Griffin and Jordyn Sheerin had a couple of scoring opportunities and Annan’s keeper pulled off a great save from Josh Falkingham but that was about it.
“Their first goal came from nowhere really and they had the bonus of scoring their second just a couple of minutes later, giving us a real job to do.
“We ended up being virtually camped out in their half for large parts of the match, but it’s goals, not possession, that counts in this game and the fact is that we didn’t score.
“It was quite frustrating but Annan defended very well and blocked what we did throw at them. They were a well organised side with experienced players like David Cox, Ian Harty and Bryan Gilfillan and there hopefully won’t be many teams who will come here and take away two goals and a clean sheet.”
Annan boss Harry Cairney was reluctant to dwell on the fact that the he marked a winning first return to a ground where he was once manager and said, “I’m just happy to get another three points.
“We scored a couple of goals in a three-minute spell and held on to our lead. It was a very satisfying team performance with no outstanding individual contributions.
“We maintained our discipline at the back and denied Arbroath many scoring chances, although Craig Summersgill did have a great save from Josh Falkingham just on the hour mark.
“We’ve made a good start and our aim is to improve on our last couple of seasons and look for at least a top half finish.”