I forgot to post them here when the club put them up but Dumbarton’s Scottish League Cup* 2021/22 group stage fixtures are:

Saturday, July 10 – St Mirren (H, 3pm)
Tuesday, July 13 – Stenhousemuir (H, 7.45pm)
Saturday, July 17 – Dunfermline Athletic (A, 3pm)
Tuesday, July 20 – Partick Thistle (A, 7.45pm)

Four games in ten days – it’s a bit like the hectic end to last season.

The first is just over a month away!

*Now known as the Premier Sports Cup.

Gosh. This came round fast.

Sons have been drawn in a group with St Mirren, Dunfermline Athletic, Stenhousemuir and Partick Thistle in next season’s League Cup, now officially the Premier Sports Cup.

Thr group starts on Saturday July 10^th. That doesn’t leave much time for our new manager – whoever he may be (I assume it’ll be a he – to get players in. Four of last year’s squad have left as it is – twoof them for group opponents Stenhousemuir.

Scottish Challenge Cup,* The Rock, 13/8/19.

So. Humiliation as predicted.

This surely beats even losing to Bonnyrigg Rose for a terrible result.

This Sons team could be about the worst we’ve ever had and the players’ heads must be seriously down. Goodness knows how we can turn the season round. It’ll be some miracle if we do. I am seriously depressed.

I’ve been planning on going to Peterhead on Saturday ever since the fixtures came out. I doubt I will enjoy the experience.

*One consolation. I’ll not need to call this the Tunnock’s Caramel Wafer Challenge Cup again, this season at least.

SPFL Tier 3, Falkirk Stadium, 10/8/19.

Two games in, two defeats, no goals scored, seven conceded.

That’s a good start isn’t it?

Looks like Sons’ fans fears for the league season were well founded.

Tuesday night’s game at the Rock against St Mirren under 21s in the Challenge Cup* could be another humiliation.

What Peterhead will do to us at their place next Saturday also doesn’t bear thinking about.

Right now I’m even wondering if we will outdo (underdo?) Brechin’s record low points total of two seasons ago.

It’s the hope that kills you.

*Now the Tunnock’s Caramel Wafer Challenge Cup

This didn’t take long in coming round.

Not even a fortnight after the play-off final Sons now know who they will play in next season’s League Cup*.

And it’s a tough draw, with two top tier sides in the section in Kilmarnock (whom we played in the same competition last season) and newly promoted St Mirren (familiar to us from the last two seasons in tier 2) alongside Queen’s Park, just relegated to the bottom tier, and non-league Spartans.

This will be Sons’ first competitive fixture against Spartans and might be a chance for me to pick up yet another Scottish football ground I’ve not yet visited. That depends on whether the game will be at home or away. Each team only plays the other once.

*Betfred Cup if you must

SPFL Tier 2, The Rock, 18/4/18.

Well the game made no material difference since Tuesday night’s result at St Mirren meant we couldn’t avoid ninth but it’s still disappointing that Dumbarton nil struck again.

Not encouraging for the last two league games and the play-offs.

And we started with a few players who have mostly been on the bench in the recent past and so shouldn’t have been too tired.

Gloom abounds.

Even if by some miracle we manage to stay up, next season is going to be a bigger struggle.

(I suspect that it’ll also be a struggle if we go down.)

SPFL Tier 2, The Rock, 13/1/2018.

I hadn’t expected anything from this game even if we have recently done reasonably well against St Mirren.

But the results elsewhere mean we’re now above Falkirk only on goal difference.

In recent seasons we’ve been reliant on at least one full-time team in the division performing relatively badly. With Falkirk seeming to have got their act together and Inverness CT scooting alomost out of sight above us that situation may not prevail this season.

I fully expect us to be firmly in ninth position by this time on the 27^th after our next league game.

It’s also going to be a tough game up at Peterhead in the Cup next Saturday. They banged in at least four goals again today (even if they did also lose three.)

SPFL Tier 2, St Mirren Park, 2/12/17.

What a welcome – and unexpected – three points.

Mind you we’ve apparently played quite well the past few weeks – certainly did at Dunfermline – and with St Mirren having gone down to ten men just before half-time I would have been disappointed not to take anything from the game. But I’d have snatched your hand off for three points before it started.

I was reduced to listening to the radio in the car for snippets and was increasingly worried we wouldn’t score in the second half but Tom Walsh came up trumps and – marvel of marvels – we held out for the win. (If only we’d done that in the past two games we’d only be below Queen of the South* on goal difference.)

Too early to get carried away though but surely we needn’t fear anybody in this league.

Down to earth with a bump next week?

*Edited to add: And Dunfermline, and only a point below Morton! I was only looking at 6^th place when I originally posted.

SPFL Tier 2, The Rock, 28/11/17.

I suppose a point against a team above us is not to be sniffed at but that’s two games in a row now we’ve failed to see the game out from a winning position. Then again we’re part-time and they’re full-time and we ussually don’t do as well in midweek fixtures.

It was good to see Greg Morrison get his name on the score sheet. He’s looked a bit lacking in confidence recently. A goal should help with that.

Pity Inverness C T thumped Brechin though. A draw there wouldn’t have been a calamity.

Since they’re top of the league I’m not expecting anything from Saturday’s game at St Mirren.

SPFL Tier 2, The Rock, 14/10/17.

Well, that’s the winning run at home gone, then.

To be expected when you’re playing the league leaders, even if they haven’t won at our place for nigh on twenty years.

Not much damage done, though, with none of the teams below us mustering a win.