SOMETIMES a fact is so striking it bears repeating. Nicky Low, the diminutive Arbroath bulldog, was this time last year on the books of East Stirlingshire in Scotland’s fifth tier. That’s the same East Stirlingshire who spent the better part of this century propping up the top four divisions.
By that point they’d reinvented themselves as a high-flying Lowland League team, with Low captaining the side at the heart of the midfield. But, on Saturday he took his place in a starting XI with very different ambitions and it was his goal that kept the part-timers in the hunt for a fairytale place in Scotland’s top tier.
As far as dreams go, Arbroath’s is up there and Low, who made his first start since September in the battling win over Raith Rovers, believes they have as much a chance as anyone of finishing top of the Championship pile come the end of the season, taking him from Cumbernauld Colts and Civil Service Strollers to Rangers and Celtic in the blink of an eye.
Dick Campbell's team remain four points clear at the top of the table
“People keep asking, what are the ambitions?,” Low, whose penalty kept Arbroath four points ahead of the chasing pack, said. “We’re top of the league by four points, albeit teams may have a game or two in hand. Listen, I think we’ve played everyone in the league once or twice and we’re as good as anybody in this league in my opinion.”
That Low was able to come back into a high-flying team and look completely at ease says it all about him and the work being done by the Campbell brothers and everyone at Gayfield. Last weekend’s loss to Ayr United had been their first since October and it’s easy to see why.
Even when Reghan Tumilty put Raith Rovers ahead few would have bet against Arbroath coming back for a point at the very least. Jack Hamilton looked to have earned them just that before Low stepped up to convert a late penalty.
For the 30-year-old, it was the perfect way to mark his return to action after injury and he admits he had been desperate to show what he could offer to Dick Campbell’s promotion chasers.
“Had we been at the bottom of the league I would have been dying to get back quicker but when you’re flying and it’s all big games, you want to play,” the former Queen of the South man said. “People are saying they’re surprised we’re up there but listen, we’re going into the latter stages of the season and we’re still up there. I just want to get back and get fitter.
“I’ve watched from the sides a lot and watched where I think I can improve the team, getting on the ball a bit more and stuff.
“We’ve lost a couple of big players but we’ve come to Raith - one of the best teams in this league - and we’re not going away.”
While it was a dream return to the starting lineup for Low, it was a different story entirely for Raith’s Jamie Gullan. On from the off for the first time since he returned to the club, the striker and his teammates never got going and could have no complaints about losing all three points.
It means it’s now five games without a win for John McGlynn’s side, who still harbour an outside shot of winning the league, and Gullan believes this weekend’s Scottish Cup tie away to Aberdeen could be the perfect chance to reset.
Jamie Gullan, left, returned to Raith Rovers
“We have a Scottish Cup game next week and that’s massive to the club to get through to the next round,” the former Hibernian man said. “Hopefully, we can go up to Aberdeen and get that winning feeling back and that might kick the boys on.
“We just need to stick together. When it’s like this if we all don’t stick together then that’s when the problems happen.
“We are the ones who can get ourselves out of this and we fully believe we can do that.”
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