The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Lichties boss proud of his players after Hearts draw
Arbroath manager Dick Campbell plans to shuffle his pack for tomorrow night’s Scottish Cup tie against Falkirk, after his players put in a tremendous shift to take a well-earned point from runaway league leaders Hearts on Saturday.
Bobby Linn was making his 300th appearance for the Red Lichties and he created the home side’s best chance early in the game, cutting the ball into the path of Kris Doolan only for the striker to hook the ball over the bar.
Hearts struggled to break down the Arbroath rearguard, with the centreback pairing of Ricky Little and Tom O’brien producing standout performances against quality strikers in the shape of Northern Ireland international Liam Boyce and Frenchman Armand Gnanduillet.
The Lichties are now looking forward to welcoming League One leaders Falkirk to Gayfield with the incentive for the winners being a trip to Celtic Park in the next round of the competition.
The Bairns defeated Arbroath after a replay in last season’s Scottish Cup, but Campbell hopes to reverse the outcome on this occasion.
He said: “We have a massive game in terms of the development of the football club on Tuesday.
“I’ll look to freshen things up again as there are a few tired legs in there. It will be a tight game but I’ll be disappointed if we don’t go through.”
The Lichties can take confidence from their impressive efforts against Hearts. There wasn’t a weak link in the home ranks and Campbell wasn’t slow in praising his players.
He said: “Remember we are a part-time club up against a full-time club. Hearts are a very good side, potentially the champions, so I think any Arbroath fan would be delighted with our great performance.
“We sent a clear message that we aren’t going to lie down to anybody. We could have stolen the game and Hearts could have stolen it, so I think a draw is a fair result. I’m happy because we were able to contain them and keep a clean sheet. They didn’t hurt our goalie a lot.
“We have a point more than we had at the start of the day so let’s take a positive from that and we’ll move on to the final six games.”
The result gives the Lichties a five-point cushion over Alloa at the bottom of the table, but the Angus side is still rooted in the relegation play-off spot, three points adrift of safety, while Hearts are now 16 points clear at the top.
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Let’s take a positive from that and we’ll move on to final games