Campbell still seeing red after ‘hopeless’ second 45

Arbroath: Lichties boss calls for improvement at Coatbridge

Arbroath manager Dick Campbell is still furious with his players after Saturday’s defeat by Stranraer and reckons that only a win at Albion Rovers tonight will see him calm down to a rage.

The Gayfield men surrendered a twogoal advantage to lose 3-2 in the final quarter of the game.

Campbell is not in a forgiving mood as he explained: “I am still furious with the players with what went on in that game.

“They were guilty of not playing in the manner expected, guilty of taking things for granted and guilty of not applying themselves correctly.

“We were two goals up and running over the top of Stranraer in the first 15 minutes. We could have scored more but I could see slackness creeping into our play before half-time.”

“The players were warned that the game was not won and they had to get back up to speed.

“They went out and put in a hopeless second half performance. Stranraer’s winning goal came from a penalty that I did not think was a penalty but that does not excuse my players.”

Campbell knows he has a major decision to make and he is in no rush.

“I could drop a whole lot of them and freshen things up. That is certainly needed in the middle to front positions,” he said.

“I could also give the players the chance to redeem themselves by going out and winning at Albion Rovers. I will make that decision on Tuesday afternoon.”

A win at Cliftonhill would see Arbroath return to the third place that they lost to Alloa at the weekend with Campbell saying: “If we play well and go back up the table my mood might improve.”

Goalkeeper Ricky Gomes will miss out with a thigh problem and Blair Yule is a doubt with Steven Doris remaining out long-term.

Rovers are looking to end a run of five consecutive home games with a win after picking up just one point from the previous four matches.

The Coatbridge hosts sit just a point above bottom side Queen’s Park and the visit of the Lichties uses up their final game in hand.

Manager Brian Kerr said: “We have to finally make home advantage tell. There are no easy games at this stage of the season and this one is probably harder now after Arbroath lost on Saturday.

“We have been unfortunate in our games recently as we deserved to get something from Ayr last midweek and pushed Alloa hard on Saturday.

“Hopefully we will get a break and see off Arbroath.”

Kerr added: “We will go out and look to get the three points that takes us further away from Queen’s Park and to within a point of Forfar in eighth place.”

On-loan Rangers goalkeeper Kieran Wright is on Scotland under-19 duty and on-loan Aberdeen defender Harlain Mbayo is out injured. However, Graeme Holmes and Ross Davidson could return.