Arbroath boss Allan Moore knows his players will need to be at their best to get the better of Berwick Rangers at Gayfield on Saturday.
The Red Lichties are three points clear of Queen’s Park at the League 2 summit, with Albion Rovers a point further back in third place as the halfway stage approaches.
Moore said: “It ended up as a bit of a struggle against East Stirling last weekend in our 3-2 win. We were well on top in the first half and had lots of possession but were not troubling their goalkeeper enough.
“We got a goal through a mistake from their defence and we were coping with what they were testing us with. We had them relying on punts from their goalkeeper to push us back but at the start of the second half we started trying to play far too much football in our own half.
“Our flair players, Bobby Linn and Dylan Carreiro, could not get in the game and we got caught out for an equaliser. Then our goalkeeper made a mistake at their second goal. All of a sudden we found ourselves a goal down but it was coming as we had started the second half poorly.
“We made a couple of substitutions, with Jack Smith coming off as he had taken a knock and Dylan was withdrawn as well. We put Simon Murray out to the left wing and brought Paul McManus on and that changed the game for us.
“We started getting crosses into the box and we scored two goals to win 3-2. That meant the players could go onwards to their Christmas night out happy as we were still top of the league but we know we need to lift things.
“It will be a really difficult game against Berwick Rangers as I saw them last week at Albion Rovers. They won 1-0 in the Scottish Cup replay and they were really stuffy on a night of horrible weather conditions.
“Paul McManus is definitely in my plans for a starting place after doing so well. I had rested him after a busy schedule of games and Jack Smith had done well in his absence. Paul came on last week and it looks like that rest has done him the world of good.”
The Gayfield side are looking for their second win over Colin Cameron’s sixth-placed side this season and Moore added: “We won 2-1 down at their place in our very first league game.
“We were a goal down at half-time in a game that seems an eternity ago. We shuffled things around and it was the first time we played Kevin Nicoll at centre-half - he has been there ever since.
“Hopefully we will play at a high level for the 90 minutes and keep our three-point advantage at the top of the table.”
Craig Stewart