City denied first three points in pulsating encounter

Omar Kader’s opener was cancelled out by Marc Laird, and Ricky Little put the Lichees ahead just after the break. Ouzy See then grabbed a controversial leveller before stabbing City in front with his second of the game. Martin Scott denied the hosts a maiden three points however, before Jassem Sukar was sent off.

The clear talking point was See’s first, which Arbroath boss Dick Campbell felt was a clear foul on goalkeeper Robbie Mutch. “I don’t want to hang anybody out to dry, but you seriously have to look at the goal,” he said. “Everybody in the ground can see it’s a foul and the boy’s in the hospital. How can you possibly fall like that without being punched or pulled or whatever.

“The way the referee’s seen it has unfortunately caused the game to get away from him. The red card wasn’t a red card – he’s been fouled and all he’s done is put his leg up, he’s not meant to kick the boy.

“I’m not blaming the referee for our performance today though, you’ve got to give credit to Edinburgh City.”

Opposite number Gary Jardine, not surprisingly, took the opposite view of the decision to allow See’s goal to stand. “You’ll see it as a foul more often than not, but I think the ref’s been brave,” he said. “The easy thing to do is to blow the whistle. We’ve watched games on the telly and thought ‘they’re over protected’ and I thought it was two guys jumping and Ouzy’s got the head on it.

“Clean sheets are hard to come by in this league so we need to score goals. We created chances last week and created more this week. I’d like to see us take more but it’s looking positive. We need to be upbeat today. Week in, week out we’ve improved and this was another one.”

Campbell’s side took the lead with their first attack. Josh Skelly drove a low ball across the six-yard box that took Andrew Stobie out of the equation, and was met by Kader at the back post for an easy finish.

City responded perfectly. A ball across the area from Craig Beattie found Aaron Dunsmore, who in turn picked out Laird. He manoeuvred the ball on to his left before netting his first goal for the club, sparking wild celebrations from the ‘stag do’ situated behind the press box.

Whatever Dick Campbell said at half-time did the trick as Arbroath retook the lead within two minutes of the restart. Little, still up from a corner, nodded home following a cross from the left to claim just his second career goal.

Once again, City responded with a swift equaliser. Neat play between Laird and Dunsmore got the latter in behind, who stood the ball up towards See. He challenged Mutch for the ball, and slammed home when it fell kindly. The keeper appeared to be in a bad way following the goal, with both sets of players urgently calling for medical attention.

City then went ahead when glorious searching ball from Shaun Harrison found See, who bore down on goal before calmly poking the ball past substitute keeper Ricky Gomes.

It was then the Lichties turn to force a leveller when Scott smashed home on the line after City failed to clear a corner. They were immediately down to ten men when Sukar was shown a straight red for a reactive kick after being fouled by Ian McFarland.

Edinburgh City: Stobie, Dunsmore, Mbu, Harrison, Laird (McConnell 81), McKee, McFarland, Gair, Beattie (Allum 77), Dunn, See.

Arbroath: Mutch (Gomes 58), Whatley, Sukar, Little, Hamilton, Scott, Kader, McCord, Prunty Doris 70), Skelly (Hester 82), Linn.