(For some reason this post didn’t appear when originally scheduled.)

SPFL Tier 3, Links Park, 19/4/25.

A draw is a decent enough result, though selection bingo was in evidence again. It’s really a bizarre approach to management.

They took the lead through a twice taken penalty which Shay Kelly seemingly saved twice but the second time couldn’t prevent the rebound off the bar leading to a goal.

Then Carlo Pignatiello brought things level. In the second half we went ahed through a penalty ourselves Tony Wallace doing the honours.

We couldn’t hold the lead though and they scored with six minutes to go.

Annan up next week for the last home game. Let’s hope we can round things off with a bit of cheer.

They have a habit of pulling results out of the bag, though.

Dumbarton FC’s administrators have given an update on the status of the process.

It seems they have identified a preferred bidder.

This is not quite the good news it may appear as in effect if this goes ahead the club would still be under the ownership of the same company which was in charge when it went into admin – a company moreover not interested in being in charge of a football club but only in the land on which the ground sits as a site for house building. (The fact that the land is not actually suitable for building houses on being neither here nor there apparently.)

And what is to prevent Pendragon Group from further running down the club after the administrators hand it back?

Since the creditors are to be paid in full the administrators will have done their duty to see the best deal for them but a settlement like this is not in the best interests of the club for the future.

SPFL Tier 3, The Rock, 12/4/25.

Well, that’s the unbeaten run over.

Not surprisingly really. They had more to play for and we made eight changes from last week, so selection bingo didn’t work this week.

Kristian Webster got the goal.

SPFL Tier 3, New Central Park, 05/04/25.

Or maybe I should go….

Selection bingo obviously works.

We controlled this from the beginning even if I was nervous every time they moved up the park before we scored but at times it looked a bit like an old-fashioned end of season game.

Then Joel Mumbongo scored with a header from a Kalvin Orsi cross. A collector’s piece.

Then Kalvin got the ball on the wing, skinned his man and proceded to waltz past three of their defenders before striking his shot from about the D.

The next was a peach. Their keeper had just hit the ball aimlessly out for a throw-in, which was taken – to Carlo Pignatiello. Carlo moved infield and curled a Froxyesque curler into the top corner.

There was one strange moment when the ball looped up in our box and keeper Shay Kelly was in two minds about how to deal with it. He kept it out somewhat awkwardly.

Mouhamed Niang and Joel Mumbongo had picked up bookings in the first half and at three-nil up it made sense to remove Niang for the second half as being more likely to pick up another. Craig McGuffie was the replacement with Michael Ruth on for Orsi at the same time.

A telling sub as within five minutes a Kelty defender didn’t get his header in and Ruth was able to run in from just past halfway before slotting it past the keeper and inside the post.

Just after Joel Mumbongo went down after a challenge in the box and had to be stretchered off the pitch.

However, things went from bad to worse for Kelty when one of their players got a second yellow card for a trip.

A few minutes later Matt Shiels – on for Tony Wallace – nudged a Ruth free-kick past the keeper.

I just about missed our sixth. A cross looked to be Michael Ruth’s to head in but he was shoved in the box. I looked at the ref expecting him to blow but instead Craig McGuffie put the ball in the net.

By this time we were full of flicks and backheels and generally playing exhibition stuff.

Football is really bizarre. Where did this display come from? I know Kelty were poor but we were more than good enough to take advantage.

The lads obviously took confidence from winning last week. They should take even more from this.

SPFL Tier 3, Recreation Park, 29/3/25.

A win!

Our first since December. And we lost the first goal. I think the last time we came from behind to win was at Arbroath in October.

They missed a penalty to make it 2-0 though. That would most likely have been game over.

For us Michael Ruth scored with a penalty and then Craig McGuffie embarrassed the keeper with a free-kick which it seems the wind took and he could only palm it into the net.

Then they equalised and that could have been it – or worse – but Mark Durnan popped up with a header from a corner to score the winner.

Strange how a win brightens the mood even if we’re going down.

SPFL Tier 3, The Rock, 22/3/25.

So that’s it, then. The failure to win this means the utterly remote possibility of finishing even in ninth place has now vanished.

That fifteen point deduction was the real killer.

So it’s Tier 4 football again next season.

SPFL Tier 3, Gayfield,* 15/3/25.

Someone once said, “It’s a funny old game.” Someone else said, “Football. Bloody Hell.”

Despite our position at the bottom of the table and theirs at the top I had a curious feeling of optimism during the warm-up. Or maybe it was the sunshine bathing Gayfield. Hints of Spring and all that.

There was more selection bingo from boss Stevie Farrell. Quite how Finlay Gray was supposed to affect the game from what was in effect the left wing position is beyond me. He did his best but he’s not a left-footed player and his crossing therefore wasn’t a threat.

The optimism didn’t last long. We had dominated the early stages and then in what was their first really concerted attack they scored, a completely uncontested header from a cross you could see coming long before it did. To make it worse it was ex-Son Sam Stanton who scored it. (Mind you there was another Arbroath player waiting behind him if he hadn’t headed it.) Another long day beckoned.

Thereafter the first half was something of a bore: two poor teams misplacing passes or miscontrolling the ball and it had the general feel of an old-style end-of-season game. Mouhamed Niang was impressive, though, imposing himself on the midfield, which continued throughout the game.

The second half was more of the same really but we began to come into it more as the game progressed and we looked more confident since they hadn’t added to their lead.

But down 1-0 and two subs come on so that we switch to a back three and what had looked like a reasonably solid defence restricting Arbroath pretty well to shots from outside the box suddenly became shambolic – almost as if we had never practiced that formation. I could only see one outcome from that. And it wasn’t favourable.

Then we scored. Don’t you just love football?

Niang won the ball in midfield, fed sub Craig McGuffie, who sent a delightful defence splitting pass through to Michael Ruth, who still had a lot to do though, beating a defender before slotting it past the keeper.

So the day ended on a high. There’s still a football side in there somewhere.

*Greenversity Stadium at Gayfield, if you must.

SPFL Tier 3, The Rock, 8/3/25.

Another defeat.All the more painful for the goal being conceded in stoppage time.

That’s six in a row now. It doesn’t help when the manager is playing selection bingo to give all the players game time. Just put your best team on the pitch. (Mind you he probably doesn’t know what his best team is.)

And it won’t get any better. We’re away to league leaders Arbroath next Saturday.

I know we won there last time out but that was a rarity. And we were in a fairly good place then, while they weren’t.

SPFL Tier 3, The Rock, 4/3/25.

Yet another defeat; this time in front of BBC Alba’s cameras, so I got to see the game.

Arbroath started brightly but we scored first due to Michael Ruth winning a free kick and then taking it himself banging a beauty just under the bar.

We were riding our luck though with Arbroath having a few chances and lonee goalie Milosz Sliwinski doing well at times to thwart them.

But a misjudged attempt at a header back from Michael Miller allowed their forward to squeeze a shot in.

Second half we lost an early goal (it’s been our habit this season in one half or another.) A long-hit corner was headed back towards goal and we didn’t react quickly enough to stop the effort that resulted, poked in by an attacker.

That was effectively game over, though we huffed and puffed towards the end.

We’re now 18 points behind ninth with only 27 still up for grabs.

Still, one of the club’s administrators was interviewed at half time and made encouraging noises about indentifying a preferred bidder. We can only hope.

SPFL Tier 3, The Rock, 1/3/25.

Another dispiriting result, Carlo Pignatiello’s goal after half-time possibly the only bright spot. Then again Stenny have had the upper hand against us for the past two seasons.

Next up, a home game versus the present league leaders, Arbroath, at home – and on the telly (BBC Alba) – on Tuesday night.