Three's a crowd for cup rivals

DUNFERMLINE Athletic and Arbroath have come out firmly against close encounters of the third kind.

The sides have wisely decided that to face each other three times in the space of a month, before the league season gets under way, would be taking familiarity too far.

The two teams have drawn each other in both the Alba Challenge Cup and the Co-operative Insurance Cup, both times at East End Park, on 24 and 31 July respectively, but they have now decided to cancel their pre-season friendly scheduled for Gayfield on Wednesday, 7 July.