Former Third Division foes Arbroath and Albion Rovers faced each other on Flag Raising day at Gayfield and by the end of the 90 minutes the Red Lichties sat on top of the Second Division thanks to a 6-2 win.
Paul Sheerin’s men got the better of the Coatbridge side as they did last season, although the contest became lop-sided after Rovers lost two goalkeepers to red cards.
Firstly Derek Gaston was dismissed after just 5 minutes for a foul on Lee Sibanda and Sheerin stroked home the resultant penalty. Sibanda doubled the lead, however the 10 men rallied and Chris Boyle scored twice to have them level by half time.
Stuart Malcolm and Kieran McAnespie had Arbroath two ahead again at the start of the second half before Rovers’ replacement goalkeeper Chris Fahey was dismissed with Sheerin netting from the spot against makeshift shot-stopper Allan Dempsie.
Lee Bryce rounded things off with Sheerin feeling sorry for his opponents saying, “I thought it would only be yellow cards in those situations.”
Rovers boss Paul Martin said, “We will be appealing not one but both red cards. Our season is now over 35 games as that became a non-event.”
Airdrie United also won handsomely as they defeated Dumbarton 3-0 with Phil Johnston netting a double and Ryan Donnelly also scoring with Diamonds boss Jimmy Boyle not completely satisfied.
Boyle said, “We did well but we still have a tendency to pass the ball in dangerous areas and we could get caught out.”
A single close range strike from Scott Davidson 14 minutes from time was enough for Stirling Albion to see off East Fife 1-0 with the Fifers boss John Robertson far from impressed.
Robertson said, “Hopefully this will be a wake-up call. If the players think they can just turn up and expect to win games then it will be another season of being mid-table."
Stirling manager Jocky Scott added, "It helped that we kept 11 men on the park, unlike last week against Airdrie. We have to learn quickly in this league but it is a great start."
Brechin City left it late before David McKenna and Paul McManus goals defeated Stenhousemuir 2-0 at Glebe Park with manager Jim Weir saying that his side’s patience was rewarded. Weir said, “It was beginning to look like a fruitless day until David popped up with a good opener.”
Lewis Coult’s late strike earned a point for Cowdenbeath in a 2-2 draw with Forfar in a game where the lead changed hands twice. Mark Ramsay fired the Blue Brazil ahead early however Mark McCulloch and Chris Templeman goals had the Loons in front before Coult restored parity."
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