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Albion Rovers 2 v 2 Arbroath |  |
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Albion Rovers 2 v 2 Arbroath | |
| Bell's League Third Division 6th August 2005 |
Pics courtesy and © of Al
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Attendance : 394
Scorers ~ Albion Rovers : Young (21), Houston (88). Arbroath : Miller (71), McCulloch (83).
The first league outing of the season saw bookies promotion favourites Arbroath visit a sunbathed Cliftonhill and get a tough introduction to third division football. Club captain Scott Friel aged just 20 led out his starting line-up, average age 22. Arbroath included Rovers players Peter Cormack and Jordan Smith in their squad.
Rovers started positively and the first action of note came in 8 minutes when Martin Bonnar saw his shot held by Arbroath 'keeper Inglis. A long free-kick into Rovers box gave Peter Cormack a chance to score at his old stomping ground but his header was wide of the mark.
In 21 minutes Rovers forward Craig Young was given the ball on the edge of the visitors box and curled the ball into the top corner of the net. Keeping up the pressure Lee Sichi and Young tried a one-two which didn't quite pay off when the Red Lichties 'keeper collected the ball.
Iain Chisholm was next to try his luck when he tried a lob from a tight angle but the ball ended up on the top of the visitors net.
Peter Cormack received a yellow card from Mr. Downie for a foul from behind on Craig Young.
Half-Time
Martin Bonnar of Rovers and Hugh Davidson of Arbroath received a stern talking-to by the referee for a disagreement while waiting for a set-piece to be taken.
After the first period having being dominated by Rovers it was inevitable that Arbroath would try to reserve the trend and they did. Jay Stein had a shot go past the Rovers goal in 50 minutes, then 5 minutes later he hit a strong shot straight to Ewings which rebounded to his teammate who hit a remarkably similar shot to Ewings.
Just after a Rovers cross cum shot proved to be too high to trouble Inglis, Scott Friel fired a free-kick across the face of the visitors goal but nobody managed to get a touch and it went out for a goal-kick.
Gordon Lennon made another in a series of saving tackles when he stopped Mark McCulloch in Rovers box after a move up the wing. He was on hand once more a couple of minutes later to cut the ball out after a cross from the far side seemed certain to be hit into the open net by a waiting attacker.
On the attack again Rovers Sichi shot the ball high after Graham McGhee supplied the pass. In 71 minutes Arbroath drew level when McCulloch crossed for unmarked Greg Miller to head the ball into the home net.
Lennon cut out yet another long Arbroath pass which was soon followed by Arbroath's trialist substitute chipping the ball onto the top of the Rovers crossbar.
In 83 minutes the Red Lichties grabbed the lead when McCulloch headed home a Stein cross. Then just as home fans thought the game was dead Scott Houston scored with a spectacular volley on the edge of the box.
On the stroke of full-time a weak penalty claim by Rovers was turned down which resulted in Scott Houston being shown a yellow card.
Greg Miller of Arbroath also had his name taken by the referee during the match.
Summary
A really crowd pleasing performance by a young and new Rovers team. If they can gel further and play as well as they did for large parts of this match fans will be happy.
Albion Rovers : Ewings, Lennox, Bonnar, O'Neil, Lennon, McGhee, Chisholm, Friel, Sichi (Selkirk 75), Young, Franch (Houston 70). Subs Not Used : Noble, Black, Creer.
Arbroath : Inglis, McMullen, Black, Bishop, Cormack, McCulloch, Miller, Davidson, Collier (Jackson 45), Reilly (Trialist 59), Stein. Subs Not Used : Watson, Smith, Cairns.
Referee : Jamie Downie
Man of the Match : Gordon Lennon
