TOP-of-the-table Liam Henderson is delighted to be proving the doubters wrong.

The defender swapped Edinburgh City and League Two for Arbroath and the Championship in the summer.

Many tipped the Red Lichties to struggle in Scottish football’s second tier but they top the pile going into Christmas Day ahead of a number of more established clubs, including Kilmarnock and Hamilton Academical, who were relegated from the top flight last season.

Henderson said: “We are flying.

“It is just a really good team spirit, togetherness and will to win and get stuck in. The run we are on is really good and everybody around the club is buzzing.

“A lot of people were saying we would get relegated or be in the bottom half of the table because we are part-time.

“We have proved them wrong.

“A lot of the players could play at a higher level.

“We have got a really good team spirit and the results take care of themselves.”

The Port Seton native has been a key part of Dick Campbell’s squad, who have lost just two league games at the halfway stage of the campaign.

One of those defeats came on the opening day, with Campbell and his team losing just once in the subsequent 17 contests as they battle it out at the top of the standings.

Sixty-eight-year-old Campbell has been in charge of Dunfermline Athletic, Partick Thistle and Forfar Athletic among other clubs and is closing in on 1,000 games as a manager, having guided Arbroath from League Two to the Championship.

Henderson said: “I think the gaffer always says his aim was to finish third bottom in the league and he would be happy. I think he is over the moon that we are doing so well.

“It just shows you we are not third bottom and that we are top for a reason.

“We just need to keep taking it a game at time and keep playing away and getting points on the board.”

Twenty-five-year-old Henderson, who is joined at Gayfield Park by former Musselburgh Athletic midfielder Michael McKenna, began his career with Hearts.

Spells at Falkirk, Stenhousemuir and Cowdenbeath followed before nearly 100 games for Edinburgh City.

Defeat and a red card in the play-off final meant that his time at Ainslie Park did not end the way he wanted it to but he is loving life at Arbroath.

A goal in the 2-0 victory over Partick Thistle last weekend was his second of the campaign and means Arbroath are top going into the Boxing Day clash with Dunfermline Athletic.

He said: “I cannot really ask for any more – maybe a few goals!

“It has been really good.

“I think as a player we know nothing is won in December.

“We just need to take it game by game and keep getting points on the board.”