Ten-man Arbroath have produced a strong comeback to rescue a 2-2 draw in the first leg of their Scottish League One playoff semi-final against Queen's Park.
It was the visiting side, who finished second in the Scottish League Two table at the end of the regular season, who drew first blood with 18 minutes on the clock.
Bryan Wharton jumped highest to meet Sean Burns's corner to head home the opener, and Arbroath's task was made even more difficult shortly after when Kieran McWalter was shown a straight red for his two-footed challenge on Burns.
Queen's Park capitalised on the man advantage to double their lead on the 36-minute mark thanks to Shaun Fraser's back-post tap-in, following some good play by Paul Woods.
It was game on with three minutes to go before the interval in an entertaining half of football, however, as Simon Murray pulled one back for the Smokies to regain some hope.
Then, just moments after Shaun Rooney had a goal ruled out at one end for offside, Murray legally found a way through up the other to level things up for the 10 men of Arbroath.
Willie Muir produced a fine save in the closing stages of the contest to prevent Arbroath from stealing a late advantage to take into Saturday's second leg, ensuring that it remains all to play for at Hampden Park.
Daniel Lewis
