Carnoustie had to dig in at home to Letham to grind out a 2-0 win with visitors ending the game with nine men.
Gowfers boss Phil McGuire made a couple of changes to the side that beat Forfar West End in midweek with Pat Martin and Ryan Dignan returning with Gordon Macdonald and Arran Leiper dropping to the bench alongside a familiar face in defender Danny Millar.
A scrappy first half ended in controversy when Letham No.20 Paddy Deane was shown a yellow card for a foul in back play on Bailey Steel, the Letham man was then shown a second yellow card for dissent and sent off, a minute before the break.
As if having one player shown two yellow cards in quick succession wasn’t bad enough for Letham, on 64 minutes, Stuart Nicol was booked for a foul on the left and when the resulting free kick went out for a corner, Nicol kicked the ball away over the bank and into the trees and was promptly shown a second yellow card and the visitors were reduced to nine men.
The Gowfers took the lead on 68 minutes, Kieran Conway, who was playing his last game for the before making the move out to Dubai, was brought down in the box and Sam Simpson made no mistake from the spot. Carnoustie didn’t make sure of the points until the 85th minute and it had a bit of fortune about it. A clearance by the Letham keeper was knocked on by Jamie Winter into the path of Arran Leiper and as he went past is man and cut in, he hit a cross that deceived the keeper and looped over him, into the top corner, leaving the young wing back looking a little embarrassed to celebrate.
In the end this was a good result against a very hard working Letham side that have made big steps since last season under Sean Whitworth.
