Arbroath boss Dick Campbell was a man of few words as his side crashed to a home defeat against survival rivals Cove Rangers.
Morgyn Neill’s late header was enough to secure three points for Cove who are now level with Hamilton.
Cove, who have a game in hand on Accies, are also three points adrift of Arbroath going into the final two weeks of the season.
They travel to title-chasing Dundee next week with defeat likely to rule them out of the race to topple Arbroath, due to the Gayfield side’s substantial goal difference.
And while Lichties are extremely unlikely to face a relegation play-off, Campbell was still gutted at his side’s late collapse.
“Cove deserved to win that game,” said Campbell. “We were very poor and I can’t say any more than that.
“We now need something from our final two games to stay up and we’ll go again.”
Arbroath result ‘can boost Cove Rangers’ at Dundee
Meanwhile, Cove boss Paul Hartley hasn’t ruled out his side’s chances of a shock result at Dundee on Friday.
Cove beat Dundee 3-1 earlier in the season and despite losing on both clashes since, Hartley feels the win at Arbroath gives his team a chance.
“We’ve given ourselves a wee bit of hope that we can get out of this,” said Hartley.
“Football’s about enjoyment and we have certainly enjoyed this win.
“I wasn’t going to have a glass of wine but I will do after this one.
“On Friday there will be two different teams going for different things.
“The Championship has thrown up all sorts of things this season. A few weeks ago, Dundee probably looked like they’d win the title a few weeks ago.
“Since then the results have been funny.
“It will be an interesting game next week and no-one will give us a chance but we’ll try and recover and see what happens at Dundee.”
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