Todd Lumsden wasn’t prepared to comment on his long-term Arbroath future after his first match as caretaker-manager following the departure of Allan Moore the previous weekend.
The former Albion Rovers boss, who was Moore’s assistant at Gayfield, agreed to step into the hotseat until a new appointment is made, but refused point blank to indicate whether he’d be interested in taking the job on a permanent basis.
Lumsden said: “I don’t know, you’d have to ask the chairman. It all depends what the chairman and directors say. They are the bosses, they are in charge of the club. I’ll just work to do the best I can until something happens.”
The Red Lichties came within seconds of securing what would have been only a second win in 16 league games since the beginning of the year, but Simon Murray’s first-half strike was cancelled out by Queen’s defender Sean Burns, who equalised three minutes into injury time.
The point gained was, nevertheless, sufficient to ensure Arbroath secured one of the three available play-off spots and the strong likelihood of facing Queen’s again in the first semi-final.
Lumsden said: “On reflection a draw was a fair result. They had a lot of pressure in the second half without really creating anything and I thought we defended absolutely fantastically. But to lose a goal in injury time was a kick in the teeth. However, we only needed a point to clinch a play-off spot.
“That was our objective for the latter part of the season and we are delighted to be there.”
Arbroath took the lead in the 25th minute when Kieran McWalter won possession 30 yards out and released Murray who shot low beyond Willie Muir for his 21st goal of the season.
Muir had earlier done well to turn aside a powerful netbound effort from Bobby Linn as Arbroath looked the more likely side to break the deadlock.
Murray, who worked tirelessly in the lone striker role, caused problems all afternoon for Queen’s centre-backs Tony Quinn and Bryan Wharton and was unlucky not to add to his tally.
The visitors enjoyed more than their fair share of possession,however, but struggled to break down the resolute home defence and seemed destined to return home empty-handed. But in a final flurry of pressure, Marc McCallum punched the ball out to the edge of the box where Burns connected with it perfectly to shoot low into the far corner of the net to earn a share of the spoils.