Arbroath 2-1 Alloa Athletic: hosts edge closer to play-offs

Arbroath kept up their unlikely pursuit of the Scottish Championship play-off places with a 2-1 win over fellow part-timers Alloa Athletic.

Last season's League One winners remain fifth, but after Inverness CT lost to Dundee United, Dick Campbell's men move within three points of the top four.

Bobby Linn put Arbroath in front, with Luke Donnelly adding a second.

Alan Trouten pulled one pack for Alloa before half-time, but they failed to grab a leveller after the break.

Peter Grant's side stay in ninth, occupying the relegation play-off position.

Arbroath manager Dick Campbell: "Alloa might just be the best team we have played so far, which makes this an even better result.

"I'm not interested in a play off place at this stage. To get 17 points so far is great and three times that over the stretch of the season will definitely keep us up, which is what I am more interested in."

Alloa Athletic manager Peter Grant: "That was tough on us, we were excellent, but we cannot afford to give goals away in the manner we did.

"This is a very, very difficult place to come, but we might have got at least a point. We are short of numbers and we have a few big players missing, but we are not here to make excuses."

• Line-ups
• Match Stats
• Live Text

Line-ups

Arbroath

• 21Gaston
• 19Stirling
• 4Little
• 5O'Brien
• 3Hamilton
• 16StewartSubstituted forKaderat 78'minutes
• 22VirtanenBooked at 67mins
• 6Whatley
• 7Gold
• 11LinnSubstituted forMcKennaat 78'minutes
• 15DonnellySubstituted forSpenceat 67'minutes

Substitutes

• 1Jamieson
• 8McKenna
• 9Doris
• 12Kader
• 14Spence
• 18Murphy
• 20Campbell

Alloa

• 41MacDonald
• 2Taggart
• 5Graham
• 4Deas
• 8Robertson
• 14BrownSubstituted forBuchananat 77'minutes
• 11Flannigan
• 6Hetherington
• 18MalcolmSubstituted forThomsonat 63'minutes
• 10TroutenBooked at 87mins
• 17O'Hara

Substitutes

• 9Buchanan
• 16Gilhooley
• 19Thomson
• 20O'Donnell
• 31Henry

Referee:

Graham Beaton

Attendance:

921

Match Stats

Home TeamArbroathAway TeamAlloa

Possession

Home47%

Away53%

Shots

Home14

Away9

Shots on Target

Home3

Away3

Corners

Home5

Away4

Fouls

Home9

Away11

Live Text

Posted at

Match ends, Arbroath 2, Alloa Athletic 1.

Full Time

Posted at 90'+3'

Second Half ends, Arbroath 2, Alloa Athletic 1.

Posted at 90'

Attempt missed. Robert Thomson (Alloa Athletic) right footed shot from the left side of the box misses to the left.

Posted at 89'

Attempt missed. Miko Virtanen (Arbroath) right footed shot from outside the box misses to the left.

Booking

Posted at 87'

Alan Trouten (Alloa Athletic) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

Posted at 87'

David Gold (Arbroath) wins a free kick in the attacking half.

Posted at 87'

Foul by Alan Trouten (Alloa Athletic).

Posted at 84'

Corner, Alloa Athletic. Conceded by Ben Stirling.

Posted at 83'

Attempt missed. Michael McKenna (Arbroath) left footed shot from the centre of the box misses to the right.

Posted at 82'

Foul by Ben Stirling (Arbroath).

Posted at 82'

Robert Thomson (Alloa Athletic) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

Posted at 81'

Attempt missed. David Gold (Arbroath) right footed shot from the centre of the box misses to the right.

Substitution

Posted at 78'

Substitution, Arbroath. Michael McKenna replaces Bobby Linn.

Substitution

Posted at 78'

Substitution, Arbroath. Omar Kader replaces Scott Stewart.

Substitution

Posted at 77'

Substitution, Alloa Athletic. Liam Buchanan replaces Adam Brown.

Posted at 77'

Attempt missed. Jon Robertson (Alloa Athletic) right footed shot from the centre of the box is too high.

Posted at 77'

Attempt blocked. Adam Brown (Alloa Athletic) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked.

Posted at 74'

Attempt blocked. Adam Brown (Alloa Athletic) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked.

Posted at 70'

Attempt missed. David Gold (Arbroath) right footed shot from the right side of the box is close, but misses to the left following a fast break.

Posted at 69'

Attempt missed. Greig Spence (Arbroath) left footed shot from the centre of the box is high and wide to the left.

Booking

Posted at 67'

Miko Virtanen (Arbroath) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

Posted at 67'

Foul by Miko Virtanen (Arbroath).

Posted at 67'

Steven Hetherington (Alloa Athletic) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

Substitution

Posted at 67'

Substitution, Arbroath. Greig Spence replaces Luke Donnelly.

Posted at 66'

Foul by Thomas O'Brien (Arbroath).

Posted at 66'

Alan Trouten (Alloa Athletic) wins a free kick in the attacking half.

Posted at 65'

Attempt saved. Bobby Linn (Arbroath) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal.

Substitution

Posted at 63'

Substitution, Alloa Athletic. Robert Thomson replaces Blair Malcolm.

Posted at 63'

Foul by Luke Donnelly (Arbroath).

Posted at 63'

Andy Graham (Alloa Athletic) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

Posted at 62'

Corner, Arbroath. Conceded by Scott Taggart.

Posted at 59'

Attempt saved. Steven Hetherington (Alloa Athletic) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom right corner.

Posted at 57'

Foul by Ben Stirling (Arbroath).

Posted at 57'

Steven Hetherington (Alloa Athletic) wins a free kick in the attacking half.

Posted at 56'

Attempt missed. David Gold (Arbroath) right footed shot from outside the box misses to the right following a corner.

Posted at 55'

Corner, Arbroath. Conceded by Jon Robertson.

Posted at 54'

Miko Virtanen (Arbroath) wins a free kick in the attacking half.

Posted at 54'

Foul by Alan Trouten (Alloa Athletic).

Posted at 54'

Foul by David Gold (Arbroath).

Posted at 54'

Iain Flannigan (Alloa Athletic) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

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