It’s all to play for on Friday

There’s not much in it as Arbroath look to turn around a one-goal deficit against Dunfermline Athletic in their Premiership Play-off quarter-final tie.

Co-boss Colin Hamilton believes his side has every chance of securing the victory they need in Friday night’s second leg at Gayfield.

Experienced players like Ryan Dow could have a crucial role to play in Friday night's second leg against Dunfermline Athletic at Gayfield. (Pic: Craig Brown/DAFC)

placeholder image — Experienced players like Ryan Dow could have a crucial role to play in Friday night's second leg against Dunfermline Athletic at Gayfield. (Pic: Craig Brown/DAFC)

While Dunfermline looked the stronger side in the opening stages, and threatened to take a grip on the tie when Chris Kane scored with a low drive after eight minutes, the visitors grew into the game and by the end of the second half, it was the Pars who were hanging on.

Several skirmishes in and around the Dunfermline box could easily have resulted in an Arbroath equaliser, but in the end, the Pars held on to take a narrow advantage into Friday night’s decider.

Hamilton said: “We're obviously coming away relatively happy especially with that second half performance. I think we probably merited at least a draw at the game. It's not to be – but we’re really looking forward to Friday now.

“Disappointing start obviously, going a goal behind early on, and then with a big home crowd they were in the ascendancy there, but second half in particular we came back and had chances, and were probably a bit unlucky not to not to get the result.”

Looking ahead to the second leg, Hamilton said there was a feeling of confidence going into Friday’s game.

“I think during the game our confidence grew and that's probably the big thing we need to take into the game up at our bit," he said. “We need to start the game well, and we need to take the game to them like we did in the second half tonight. We put them under a lot of pressure towards the end of the game.”

With only the one goal in it, Hamilton believes Arbroath have got a good chance of winning the tie.

“We’ll go out there on Friday and give everything we've got, and see where it takes us,” he said. “We're feeling confident and we're ready to go.”

Tickets for the second leg are on sale at arbroathfc.co.uk/ticketing/home-tickets. Friday’s match kicks off at the slightly earlier time of 7.30pm. There will be extra time and penalties if required to decide the winner.