Arbroath missed the chance to secure Championship football with two games to spare as they crashed to defeat against Cove Rangers.
A late Morgyn Neill header gave the Aberdeen-based side a 1-0 win and hauled the Angus side back into the relegation mix.
Survival is still very much in Arbroath’s hands as they are three points clear of both Hamilton and Cove.
But with games against Partick Thistle and Hamilton to come, it will be a nervy few weeks for Arbroath.
Courier Sport was at Gayfield on Saturday and outlines what happens next for Arbroath in the survival race:
What happened on Saturday?
It all sounded so simple.
Win against Cove Rangers and they were safe. No ifs, no buts.
There were other permutations, highlighted by Courier Sport in the build-up to the game, that Arbroath fans hoped would be deemed irrelevant by 4.45pm on Saturday.
Sadly, however, courtesy of a late Morgyn Neill header those permutations have now become live options.
Arbroath are still in pole position.
They are three points clear of both Hamilton and Cove Rangers with a vastly superior goal difference.
Hamilton only have one game left, ironically, at Arbroath. Cove visit title-chasing Dundee and play-off hopefuls Morton.
One win against Partick or Hamilton should be enough for Arbroath.
Late drama at Arbroath and Hamilton
As Arbroath staggered towards a draw with Cove Rangers it seemed their safety would be, all-but confirmed.
Hamilton were also drawing, ruling them out of catching Arbroath.
Six points and a 20-goal swing would also, surely have been too big a gap for Cove to make up on Arbroath in two games.
But with Neill netting at Arbroath, there was also late drama kicking off 99 miles away in Hamilton as they took on Partick Thistle.
Daniel O’Reilly scored his second goal in 89 minutes to put Hamilton 2-1 up on Partick.
At that moment, they were a point behind Arbroath.
But Accies hearts were broken by a 92nd minute Steven Lawless effort.
The significance of that Lawless strike cannot be underplayed.
It now means that Hamilton, currently 16 goals worse off than Arbroath, are likely to visit Gayfield on May 5th needing a substantial victory to overhaul their hosts.
Barring heavy defeats at both Partick and Hamilton, coupled with four points for Cove, it’s very unlikely Arbroath will go straight down.
But they could still plunge into the relegation play-offs.
What do Arbroath need now to survive?
All eyes will now be on Cove’s live BBC Scotland clash with Dundee on Friday.
A Dundee win will leave them needing a point away to Partick or at home to Hamilton the following week to secure eighth place and avoid relegation.
A draw for Cove means Arbroath can still finish bottom – if they lose both those games heavily and Paul Hartley’s side follow it up with victory at Morton.
Four points for Cove and a defeat Dick Campbell’s side means they will face at least the play-offs.
It will take two Lichties defeats and a 16-goal swing on Hamilton for either of the above scenarios to come to pass.
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