Arbroath strengthen their grip

Stalemate with Inverness leaves part-timers three points clear at the top of the table Only a fool would write us off, insists bullish Campbell

DICK CAMPBELL last night claimed that only a “fool” would write off Arbroath’s chances of winning the cinch Championship after a 0-0 draw with Inverness Caledonian Thistle kept them three points ahead of their nearest challengers.

Campbell felt that his part-time team did enough to triumph in the top-of-the-table encounter with their Highland rivals, who have a game in hand still to play, at Gayfield Park yesterday.

He stressed that surviving in the Championship was Arbroath’s ultimate goal this season – but insisted they will still be challenging for the trophy come the end of April.

The 67-year-old, who has led the Angus outfit out of League 2 and made them contenders for promotion to the Premiership during his six years in charge, took exception to a weekend article that dismissed their chances of going up.

“I pinned it to the dressing-room wall,” he said. “I mentioned it to them before the game today. You need a cause don’t ye? Everybody thinks that because you’re part-time, you’re a set of monkeys. We’re not a set of monkeys, we’re a good team and a good unit.

“I’m not really bothering my backside if we’re top four. I’m not here to do that. We’ve got another two points to stay in the league and that is our objective.

“I’m not sitting here and talking about play-offs. I couldn’t care less if we get in the play-offs. Arbroath just want to stay in it. But any fool who is prepared to write Arbroath off knows nothing about football.”

Caledonian Thistle manager Billy Dodds agreed with Campbell and tipped Arbroath to remain in contention for the Championship for the remainder of the campaign.

“Anybody who writes Arbroath off is off their head,” he said. “We beat them on the opening day of the season here and they’ve only lost once since. If you want to write them off after that then you’re crazy.

“They are going to go the whole distance I think. They have re-signed the big striker up front from Livi [Jack Hamilton] so they will be there. Maybe some other people are writing Arbroath off, I’m certainly not.”

All the latest from around the Championship