The original match, at Rollo's Pier, the home of the Strathmore (Dundee) club, saw the Arbroath side take two goal lead early on, but visibly tired and was lucky to hang on to a draw.

Strathmore was unlucky to lose the toss, and had to play in the first half into a wind and with the sun shining in the goalkeeper's face, but even those factors could not explain going in at half-time 8–0 down.

at Damley Park in 1887, before a "rather small attendance", the result "being a foregone conclusion";[8] the final recorded match for the club was a 6–2 defeat at Montrose in March 1888.

[9] The club was formally struck from the Scottish FA register in August 1888,[10] although there was a one-off resuscitation of the name for a defeat at Brechin in April 1889.

[11] From 1880 to 1884, the club wore navy blue shirts and white shorts, and reversed the colours from 1884 to 1886.