The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Sheerin leads Lichties by example to grab victory
A GOAL from player-manager Paul Sheerin gave Arbroath a narrow but welldeserved victory over 10-man East Fife in an entertaining Second Division contest at Gayfield.
For the second week in a row the Methil side ended a match a man short after Craig Johnstone was dismissed for a crude tackle on Steven Doris shortly after the interval.
Doris, who heads off for a five-day trial with Birmingham City next week, escaped unscathed.
Sheerin was delighted with the result, which keeps the Gayfield men well-placed to make a strong bid to secure a play-off spot.
“It was a good performance today,” he said.
“We passed the ball well, got some good crosses in and caused them a lot of problems even before the sending off and their goalkeeper pulled off three or four very good saves.”
Despite playing into a strong headwind Arbroath made the early running, with Doris firing into the side netting before Sheerin curled a 25-yard free kick into the hands of Callum Antell within the opening six minutes.
However, East Fife came close to taking the lead shortly afterwards when PaulWillis sent in a powerful dipping effort from wide on the right which Lichties keeper Darren Hill did well to push over the bar.
Midway through the half Darren Gribben was unlucky to see his half volley tipped over the top byAnsell, while at the other end David Muir should have done better when presented with a clear sight of the goal.
Arbroath continued to look the more enterprising side, however and Doris came within inches of grabbing the opener in the 39th minute but again Antell came to the rescue.
The keeper then got down smartly to smother a Sheerin header from six yards.
The visitors were reduced to 10 men two minutes after the restart when Johnstone was shown a straight red card for his tackle on Doris.
Arbroath were quick to capitalise on their numerical advantage, with Sheerin blasting home the opener from close range after Antell had again produced heroics to thwart Scott Robertson.
Paul Currie had a wonderful opportunity to wrap it up in the 84th minute but the Arbroath midfielder guided his shot inches wide ofAntell’s right hand post, then Colin Hamilton ended a surging run by blasting wide of the target.
Despite almost constant pressure the Lichties could not add to their tally.
Arbroath: Hill, Baxter, Hamilton, Kerr, Malcolm (Sibanda 71), Keddie, Currie, Robertson, Doris, Gribben (Rennie 80), Sheerin (Birse 86) Subs not used: Holmes, Bullock East Fife: Antell, Durie, Johnstone, Forster, White, Campbell, Barr (Gormley 85), Muir, Samuel (Jamieson 80), Smith (Pollock 78), Willis. Subs not used: Sloan, Brown Referee: Paul Robertson. Attendance: 813.