It was a free-scoring friendly at Gayfield on Saturday as Arbroath faced Forfar Athletic in what turned out to be a learning experience for both sides.
Forfar boss Dick Campbell said: “I thought that during the first half an hour we were outstanding.
“It was not a bad thing that happened today because we’ve gone seven games now without losing and you can get a wee bit kidded on like that. The positive thing is that we didn’t lose, albeit we could have lost.”
New incumbent at Gayfield Alan Moore was less forgiving of the 3-3 score. He said: “I’m disappointed more than anything.
“I know we’ve said it before that this team can score goals but we’ve conceded three again which is disappointing.”
The game got off to a gentle start but it was Forfar who pushed forward.
Just after the 20-minute mark, Dale Hilson seized the initiative, slipping past Johnny Lindsay to open the account.
The Lichties were shocked into action and on the 33rd minute Bobby Linn steam-rolled his way down the centre to equalise.
Five minutes later he made it a brace with a thundering strike from well outside the box.
Omar Kader took advantage of the distraction and brought his side level, slipping through a celebrating Arbroath.
McManus made up for his consistently misfiring left foot five minutes after the break, and a solid punt down the middle caught sub keeper Ross Salmon napping to make it 3-2.
A battling Forfar pushed back and with only a few minutes to go a hard-fought melee in the Arbroath box saw a ball ricochet into the net and Forfar’s Chris Templeman take credit.
Despite a good counter-attack led by Mark Whately the hosts couldn’t break the deadlock and the clash fizzled out to a 3-3 conclusion.