Arbroath 1 Queen’s Park 0 – Lichties take points

QUEEN’S PARK fell to their second defeat at Gayfield this season as Gavin Reilly’s first half opener was enough to seal all three points for the home side.

The Red Lichties are on course for the promotion play-offs and safely in third position after adding three points to their tally.

Reilly nipped between Matty Shiels and Cal Ferrie to roll the ball into the empty net after 16 minutes and it proved the decisive chance in a game of few.

As well as losing the match the Spiders also lost Nikolay Todorov to injury after just ten minutes.

Sean Crighton’s’ bench was limited to just seven substitutes with Ricki Lamie and Carlo Pignatiello missing from last week’s draw with Ayr United.

But the Spiders head coach had to call upon it very early into the game when the Bulgarian caught his studs in the Gayfield turf and limped off, replaced by Michael Ruth.

To that point, in just the tenth minute, it had been an even start.

The visitors showed some early positivity when Aidan Connolly beat Thomas O’Brien, and laid in Seb Drozd Drozd with a neat reverse pass. The forward’s strike was blocked for a corner, headed clear by Aaron Muirhead.

Arbroath had claims for a penalty two minutes later waved away by ref Dan McFarlane after Scott Stewart got by Henry Fieldson and the Englishman recovered to challenge in the area. The crowd claimed, the Spiders players didn’t think so and neither did the official with limited appeals from the home side.

There was no spot-kick but there was an early goal, on the 16th minute, for the home team.

A long ball over the top was headed back to Cal Ferrie by Matty Shiels, but Gavin Reilly was wise to the move and nipped in on the defender’s blind side, rounded the keeper and stroked in the opener.

It settled Arbroath and Euan Murray was on the end of pretty much everything they threw forward from that point on.

The Spiders could only test Aidan McAdams with strikes from the edge of the area though Seb Drozd was seeing plenty of the ball in tight areas.

On the stroke of half-time Ruth was denied by a Muirhead tackle after being released by Fieldson, and the deflected shot spun out for a corner.

After the break the ball began to be bogged down in the midfield, with neither McAdams or Calum Ferrie tested until beyond the hour-mark.

The Spiders refreshed the attack and introduced Liam McLeish and Ross McLean for Drozd and Callum Smith.

It almost paid off immediately when Ruth was wrestled to the ground by Muirhead in a headlock and Macgregor took the quick free-kick. He released Mclean o n the left and the neat ball across goal was grabbed by McAdam a split-second before McLeish could hit the front post.

Ferrie gathered a powerful low free kick from Jacob McIntyre with eight minutes remaining and, with time ticking down, the Spiders had one last chance in injury time as McLeish sliced over from the edge of the area.

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