Whatley praises Red Lichties’ tenacity

Mark Whatley has not netted a double figure for the season since he was playing for Tayport Thistle under-12s at the start of the new millennium.

But after making it two for the term with a crucial winner against Clyde, the Arbroath midfielder’s goal has kickstarted his side’s title dream.

Since losing to League Two leaders Forfar on February 4 to fall 11 points adrift, Arbroath have chased down the gap on their Angus rivals to just three.

And with Forfar travelling to fellow promotion rivals Elgin on Saturday, Whatley will happily swap goals for points in the title run in.

“I don’t get many goals and I’m now on two for the season,” he said, after making it six goals in four seasons. “That will probably be my lot for this year.

“You have to go back a very long time to find a season where I scored more than three.

“I did get 10 one season but that was for Tayport Thistle under-12s so that was clearly a very long time ago.

“It is great to score and even better to win. We were 11 points behind 15 games ago but we’ve never stopped believing.

“Even when we lost to Forfar to fall 11 behind we didn’t give up.

“We have a very experienced manager who has been through a few promotions and some players who have also been over the course so that helps.

“We are still behind and can’t get carried away but we are back in it again.

“All we can do is to try and beat Berwick next week and get back in the dressing room at 10 to 5 to see where we’re at.”

Whatley’s crucial strike came in 41 minutes when he broke clear on the edge of the 18-yard box to drill the ball between Clyde keeper John Gibson’s legs. Clyde created very little but striker Peter Macdonald did miss a golden chance to level late on when he blasted over from six yards.

Mark Whatley: scored his second goal of the season.