East Fife manager Gary Naysmith has said a visiting punter who took a cheap shot at his team can have his money back if he expects any more from his players.
Naysmith was heckled by a Fifers fan who travelled to watch his side’s draw at Gayfield.
“I can’t question my players’ commitment,” said Naysmith. “They gave me 100% but were dead on their feet after working all week and playing three games in seven days.
“One fan shouted at the end we were a ‘disgrace’. What games are these people watching? It certainly wasn’t that one.
“If that fan wants to come and see me then I’ll give him his money back for the game and he doesn’t need to come back.
“We had chances to win the game in the first half. In fact we dominated the first 50 or so minutes before we ran out of legs.
“We could easily have been top of the league and in the next round of the cup at the end of this week but luck hasn’t gone our way.
“But I’m a glass half-full kind of guy and can see how much potential our team has.”
While Naysmith felt the heat from his own fan, referee Euan Anderson also found himself hounded by Arbroath fans as he refused to give the hosts what appeared a stonewall penalty with the game finely poised at 1-1.
Andy Ryan rounded keeper Ryan Goodfellow but appeared to have his feet swept away from him as he went to pull the trigger.
Anderson waved away that claim and instead booked Ryan for diving in his last appearance on a three-month loan deal from Hamilton.
Jonathan Page blasted East Fife ahead in 13 minutes before Craig Watson’s second half header levelled it.
That leaves Arbroath in second bottom spot but manager Todd Lumsden believes the signs are still good.
He said: “That was a real game of two halves. We didn’t cope with East Fife early on and I had a go at my players at the break.
“I asked questions of them and they gave me answers in the second half. We had so many chances to win it and quite how we didn’t get a penalty I don’t know.”