SFL Div 1, Stark’s Park, 6/10/12.

Football. Bloody Hell!

I was at this one. (Stark’s Park is only a couple of hundred yards from my house.)

I really don’t know where to start.

My son and I approached the ground with some trepidation; after all we’d managed to secure only one point from seven games so far and the Rovers had drawn with the league leaders last week.

We were terribly open in the first half, leaving acres of space for Rovers to exploit a lot down the left hand side. Those critics of James Creaney – who sat this one out on the bench – should maybe think on. Mostly we seemed to be playing 4-5-1 with midfielders coming through to attempt to support Jim Lister when we punted it up to him. On this point it is almost useless to aim at his head; it needs to be his chest, folks. Our play betrayed an unsurprising lack of confidence; overplayed passes, poor first touches, tentative tackles abounded. Rovers seemed able to run through us at will. The transition from our possesion to theirs always seemed to lead to a backs to the wall challenge which we mainly survived. In fact their goal when it came was out of almost nothing but Jamie Ewings – presumably put in to give Stephen Grindlay a rest from picking the ball out of the net so often – might have made a better fist of saving it. Nevertheless he commanded his box well.

We had a couple of efforts on goal. I think it was Phil Johnston that made their keeper make a save and one Scott Agnew effort was almost diverted into goal by Garry Fleming.

Still at half time I had resigned myself to a defeat.

Early in the second half Jamie Ewings made two very good saves to keep us in it. Then a Raith player overstretched in midfield and a good challenge in midfield broke to Jim Lister for him to move in on goal. This is the sort of one-on-one Dumbarton strikers don’t usually convert but “Blister” did. Cue much rejoicing in the Val McDermid Stand.

What a difference a goal makes. Suddenly we were getting the break of the ball, or forcing the break, and starting to take the game to the Rovers.

We didn’t dominate completely as they had a few efforts but weren’t composed enough to punish us. Their second when it arrived was against the run of play. Our defending of the corner was poor, though. Two uncontested headers in the box is shocking.

Kudos to Alan Adamson, though. He brought on striker Brian Prunty and took off central defender Martin McNiff.

Raith then made the mistake of letting us have the ball and we started to use it. We had several half chances and one that looked great when Phil Johnston’s pace and trickery at last had an end product but Blister’s header went wide.

We also had more penetration when Mark Gilhaney came on for Mark Lamont who is too easily brushed off the ball at this level.

There were a few hairy moments at our end as we were pushing up and leaving lots of space but we persevered and a great ball in to Brian Prunty saw him poke it past the keeper. Ecstasy in the Val McDermid Stand.

Still Raith could have won it as they had a one-on-one but Jamie Ewings stood tall and deflected the ball past the post with his foot.

Great mutual acclamation from the fans and players at the final whistle. We’ve doubled our points tally! (Mind you at this rate we’ll end the season on a total of 9 points.)

It says something (I’m not quite sure what) that the match sponsors gave the Man of the Match to their goalkeeper.

The lads should take confidence from this. Twice we came from behind.

We also looked more threatening when we only had three at the back. Something for the manager to ponder there, perhaps. I suspect he’ll go with five in midfield and one up front again next time though.

Scottish League Cup, Round 2, Almondvale Stadium, 28/8/12

(3-2 after extra time)

Well, this game showed we can at least live with a Div 1 side.

In fact on chances created we did well enough to win it. We hit the post twice within a second in the second half.

To begin with, though, their nippy midfield was skipping through ours as if they weren’t there. They looked confident on the ball and their passes found their men. We struggled to contain them but came onto a game as the half wore on and started to make chances. Mark Gilhaney’s long range shot was spilled by the keeper and scrambled away, Jim Lister was through and squared it to Brian Prunty but it hit off the defender’s leg. Then an inch perfect chip from Scott Agnew allowed Jim Lister in on the keeper. 0-1.

Not two minutes later we conceded a needless penalty. Nicky Devlin should have had a shout to hoof the ball but former Son Iain Russell nipped in front of him and got shoved. He converted the spot kick. Had he not, we might have won 1-0.

The game opened up a bit in the second half but Stephen Grindlay dealt with anything that came through. With more composure in front of goal, Brian Prunty shot hurriedly at one point, we could have nicked it. And Nicky Devlin’s cut in and shot that hit the post for Jim Lister to fire against the same post off the rebound maybe showed luck wasn’t with us. Scott Agnew had a couple of long range efforts, making the keeper save one of them.

Extra time (which we didn’t need with an important league game on Saturday) and the full time nature of Livingston might have made the difference. Their second looked to have been avoided by a Stephen Grindlay save but the rebound was driven past him. Even so our man on the line ought to have cleared but shinned it.

Their second was well worked and we should have been out of it. But we plugged away and finally after a good move, and two saves from their keeper off it, Mark Gilhaney slotted it in. We might have equalised from a header off a Scott Agnew free kick but it flew past.

Positives, then. 1-1 at 90 mins. (I’d have preferred a league point.) Scott Agnew showed a return to form. Jim Lister was a thorn in their defence all night – a good shout for man of the match.

The lads ought to take some confidence from this.

SFL Div 1, New Broomfield, 11/4/12.

So the league begins where it ended, at New Broomfield, and it turns out we didn’t need to win the play-off final at all.

But I didn’t expect the score-line to be exactly reversed.

Up until the goal we looked reasonably sound without really threatening much. After it, for the rest of the first half we were appalling.

The first goal looked offside to me but the attacker shouldn’t have had it so easy from a ball over the top. The second was equally dire defensively and the third was a joke. At 2-0 down you don’t dwell on the ball as a last defender, you hoof it. Quite what the reasoing was in playing Lithgow and Graham at centre back for the two previous games only to revert to Lithgow and McNiff for the first in the league I can’t fathom. All understanding seems to have gone. Stephen Grindlay had no chance with any of the four goals, though.

Second half, we dominated. The goal when it came was overdue and if they hadn’t cleared a header off the line which would have made it 3-2 we might have scraped a draw but the sucker punch was almost inevitable as we were chasing the game.

There’s a lot of sorting out to do. There’s still far too much lumping the ball up to Lister hoping he’ll control it and not enough playing through midfield. Our goal came from a passing move. Scott Agnew was again ineffective. We need to approach games as a 90 minute thing and show the endeavour we did in the second half here from the start.

A slow start’s not unusual for us. I doubt we can afford it in this league, though.

Edited to add:- We had our chances (Brian Prunty had a header over the bar, Scott Agnew screwed his shot over, there was the goal line clearance) but we didn’t take them. Airdrie Utd took theirs.

Scottish League Cup*, The Rock, 4/8/12.

A win and a clean sheet. It took us some time last season to achieve either of those – and this was a cup match, where our record has been none too strong for too many seasons now.

Still, this was against lower league opposition and we didn’t look that much better than them. I suspect the Wee Rovers will struggle in Div 2 as they didn’t look to have much of a cutting edge. We will struggle in Div 1, ditto.

We started off well but didn’t create much in the way of clear-cut chances then let them into it and they had a fair bit of possession in the first half. Our midfield seemed non-existent at times. Perhaps we’re making too much of Jim Lister’s ability with the high ball. The opener just before half time came from a corner, Brian Prunty reacting to the knockdown in the box – which may have come off their keeper or a defender (it was up the other end and difficult to make out.)

We were more in control in the second half. Jim Lister was one on one with the keeper after a horrible defensive mistake but shot it straight at him. Rovers have one of the smallest goalkeepers I can remember but he made a brilliant reaction save from Prunty a few minutes before we scored again. Another defensive mistake was pounced on by sub Mark Gilhaney (Scott Agnew had had a poor game before being hoiked) who squared it into Jim Lister’s path for a nice controlled finish.

Jamie Lyden was given the right back berth. He had an encouraging start last season at Brechin and East Fife, scoring in both games before losing his way and not featuring again. His confidence looked low to begin with here but I thought he came onto a game.

Andy Graham and Alan Lithgow were more solid at centre-back than last week but will be tested more severely when the league starts.

On to the real stuff next week.

*Okay: it’s the Scottish Communities League Cup now.

SFL Div 1 Play-off Final, Second leg. Excelsior Stadium, 20/5/12

Where was the anguish? Where was the angst? In a way this was even more unreal than watching us live on TV. 2-0 up after about twenty minutes, scoring just before half-time, cake icing and tiki-taka in the second half? It doesn’t get better than this. Except I was tense up till the Airdrie lad’s sending-off. At the time I didn’t think it was more than a robust challenge but the TV replays showed he took James Creaney’s leg and both his boots’ studs were showing so the ref got it right.

Next season might be a struggle but I’m not thinking about that right now. I’m basking in this.

I actually first took a photo of the scoreboard at 1-3 but this superseded it.

Craig Dargo may have been official man of the match (and he did give us the platform to win the game with his two strikes) but I’d like to mention Tony Wallace. From coming into the team as essentially Kevin Nicoll’s understudy he has grown into the season and his performance yesterday boded well, even if once again Airdrie’s Paul Lovering may have conned the ref into getting him booked. The TV replay was inconclusive as to whether there had even been a foul in that incident – which looked innocuous to me at the time. But it was Tony who beautifully set up the third goal for Mark Gilhaney and so gave Airdrie an almost impossible task in the second half and Tony again who waltzed through their defence for the fourth after good work from Brian Prunty.

Stephen Grindlay had a couple of excellent saves and actually commanded his box a few times but still had two moments which revealed his bomb scare capabilities.

We could have punished them further but that would maybe have been unkind. Certainly we tried to score “cute” goals when 4-1 up but the efforts didn’t come off.

Airdrie looked plodding. Maybe their efforts against Ayr United and at The Rock had taken it out of them. But our lads put in a tough shift at Arbroath in the semi-final and were still fit and really up for this. Credit to the backroom staff as well then.

Finally, a curiosity. We have been promoted without a positive goal difference in the league. Has that ever happened to anyone before?

SFL Div 1 Play-off Final, First Leg, The Rock, 16/5/12

This was weird. It was totally unreal to watch my team – my diddy team – on live television, with the full treatment, build up – though that was short – replays, half time study on the manager etc. It was also unreal not to be shouting encouragement (or otherwise) during the game.

Anyway, Airdrie had most of the possession but didn’t really do much with it. The shots Stephen Grindlay had to save were mostly comfortable for him, their other efforts went high or wide. We did not play well, our passes too often went astray. Nerves, perhaps. We took the lead out of nothing, Brian Prunty finished it well, though. Then – total unreality – we scored with a free header from a free kick. Unlikely hero, Tony Wallace and a great delivery from Scott Agnew.

Airdrie’s Paul Lovering then conned the ref into booking Tony Wallace, who was perhaps still affected by that a few minutes later when he made the challenge the ref gave as a penalty. Even with the replays I was struggling to see a foul there.

I knew Grindlay would save it, unfortunately he didn’t block the rebound shot.

Second half not much happened, except Pat Walker was brought down by the keeper after he’d flicked the ball past him in the box but the ref wasn’t interested then near the death Prunty had a one-on-one which the keeper saved with his legs before Paul Nugent made the needless challenge that led to his second booking.

So we have it all to go through again on Sunday. I don’t think I could stand another 90 minutes of 0-0. It’s on a plastic pitch too, which you’d think would favour them.

SFL Div 2, Forthbank Stadium, 28/4/12.

So for the second year in a row our post-season destiny is settled with a game to spare. And we’re in the play-offs!

This is an outstanding end to a campaign where I’m sure most Sons fans would have been happy with survival in the Division. Very well done to Manager Alan Adamson, the backroom staff and the players.

The game itself wasn’t a classic. There was perhaps too much riding on it with Stirling hoping to avoid relegation. We had the better of the first half with Pat Walker coming close twice early on, Brian Prunty almost converting a Scott Agnew cross-come-shot and Stirling only the one really threatening effort on goal.

Their goal was well taken if a little out of the blue. Stirling hadn’t really looked threatening with too many wrong decisions on the ball and misplaced passes or shots.

Arlan Mptata came on and looked skillful, if perhaps too inclined to elaborate a bit – at this level players sometimes get in the way by accident rather than design – but he glided past his defender with ease a couple of times.

Our equaliser was bizarre. It’s the sort of goal you lose when you’re bottom of the Division, nothing is going for you and you’re doomed to relegation. A cross was headed into the air by Stirling’s no 2, it looped up and the keeper grabbed it as it came down but it had carried over. The lino flagged straight away. The keeper was maybe hampered by the injury he’d sustained earlier in the half but both should have dealt with it better.

After that Stirling threw the kitchen sink at it, playing men up. They had a four on two at one point where the attacker still managed to let one of the two get in a tackle. They also had what looked a penalty from where I was sitting up the other end but the ref blew for a dive and booked the attacker. A let-off I thought, but seeing the footage on Sons Player the ref got it spot on.

Then in stoppage time, at a corner, sub Craig Dargo was left totally unmarked to head the winner. Third in the Division sewn up – our highest finish in the SFL since 2004.

So there’s a nothing game next week against Brechin but the boys need to keep focused.

Then the play-off with Arbroath. Not a team we have an especially good record against.

SFL Div 2, Gayfield Park, 10/3/12.

I shouldn’t have gone to this game. I have never seen us win at Gayfield. The hoodoo continues.

First off, Arbroath are the best team I have seen this season. They were neat, tidy, passed the ball well and played some very good stuff. (I have yet to see Cowdenbeath, that joy is due in a fortnight.)

But the very early stages were even, an Arbroath move after Scott Agnew misplaced a pass needed a good save from Stephen Grindlay to prevent a goal then we came into it for a bit. In fact we scored. You won’t see it reflected in the score-line but Mark Gilhaney cut in and smashed the ball over the keeper, off the bar and down. I was probably among the six best placed people in the ground to see that it had crossed the line. The ref and lino were way behind things though and could not be sure so didn’t give it. That might have made a difference but I doubt it.

Shortly after that Brian Prunty was taken ill, tried to play on but eventually had to go off, which maybe unsettled us as Arbroath proceeded to dominate.

Their first came from a cross when three of their players were left free in the box. Another sweeping move a few minutes later saw a headed goal. I’ll need to see Lichties TV to decide whether Grindlay could have come for it. (At half time I heard an Arbroath fan say the wind had held the ball up for their forward. At Arbroath the elements are always against us.)

The second half was not much of anything. We huffed and puffed but made only one half-chance. Late on we went 3-4-3 and became ridiculously open at the back. Arbroath carved out one great opportunity and I had resigned myself to 3-0 but Stephen Grindlay pulled off an unbelievable save.

Scott Agnew had a poor game in midfield, debutant Craig Dargo had some nice touches but put the half-chance over, Prunty’s replacement Ally Graham might as well not have been on the pitch, sub David Gray turned his man a few times and got his crosses in but didn’t seem able to head the ball.

Any chance of us winning the championship disappeared on Tuesday night. With this game so did any chance of second. I hope two defeats in a row hasn’t put the heads down.

On this evidence, though, we will not win in the play-offs (if we are in them.)

SFL Div 2, New Bayview Stadium, 21/2/12.

Onwards and upwards; but I wouldn’t have given much for our chances at half-time. Apart from a great save by the keeper from a Brian Prunty lob just after they had scored we didn’t trouble their goal much. There was one great cross from James Creaney which no-one got on the end of (probably because up to then his crosses had been crap.)

E. Fife hit us on the break time after time and seemed to get past our back line too easily. The goal came from one such: a quick ball forward to a player who looked yards offside when he got the ball but couldn’t have been because the lino didn’t give it. (She gave other marginal ones though so no complaints.) Bobby Linn finished it well. Stephen Grindlay had a few small pass-back bombscares but saved us just before the half with a fine save with his legs in a one-on-one (after a defensive mistake let a nippy E. Fife forward in.)

Second half our defence never really looked in difficulty. One of our attacks had the ball played in to Prunty who elected to pass rather than shoot first time (the familiar failing) and Mark Gilhaney then took a touch so the chance was lost.

The goal came more or less out of nowhere the ball breaking to Gilhaney on the edge of the box who, for a wonder, hit it first time. A deflection took it past the keeper.

Two substitions saw Ally Graham replace the ever-willing worker Pat Walker and Mark Lamont come on for Ryan Finnie. It was difficult to tell but we may have reverted to 4-2-2 at this point. Lamont – unrecognisable from the poor player who came on late at Forfar last week – proceeded to rampage down our left side, giving the Fife defence loads of problems. It was his cross that an unmarked Ally Graham headed in to give us the win.

We could have had another a few minutes later when Prunty brilliantly took the ball down but then blazed it over and seemed to hurt himself in the process.

Another three points without us being particularly impressive. What is the Second Division coming to?

SFL Div 2, Ochilview Park, 11/2/12.

Incident packed – in the first half at least, when Stenny committed collective suicide. The first was when their centre half tackled Pat Walker just outside the box and the ref blew. I was too far away to be sure and when he reached in his pocket I thought he might be booking Pat for diving but it was a red for the defender for “preventing a clear goal-scoring opportunity.” Fair enough, if it was a foul there was no other defender in a position to cover. Stenny’s manager was sent “to the stands” for his complaints here. (He spent the rest of the game running down to the wall surrounding the pitch to relay instructions to his players – and the officials paid not the slightest bit of attention to him. Being sent to the stands at Stenny is clearly not a punishment.)

A few minutes later, in what I thought was an accidental collision of heads the Stenny player fell to the ground hurt. Cue hordes of home players demanding a card for Martin Mcniff apparently believing an elbow had been used. I was directly in line with this and it hadn’t even looked a foul to me! The ref was well placed on the other side and he obviously didn’t see an elbow but as a result of the Stenny protests he showed McNiff a yellow. Former Son Andy Rodgers was booked for his protests and was lucky it wasn’t a red as he kept on complaining way after his yellow.

Stenny have previous in this regard, in the 1-1 game in our last promotion season they got Gary Wilson sent off in similar circumstances.

After that incident Stenny players were throwing themselves to the ground at the slightest pretext obviously hoping to even things up card-wise. Sadly the ref fell for more than a few of these efforts. Stenny’s no. 9 could have a great future from the 10 metre board in the swimming pool.

Tony Wallace then had a great chance but side footed it over.

The second act of Stenny madness came when Pat Walker won a corner off a defender who then made his dissent clear by throwing the ball away. There is absolutely no chance that it was a goal kick instead. The defender though, who had already been booked, threw the ball to the ground in disgust. The ref held his arms out wide as he gave the second yellow, followed by red, as if to say, “You haven’t given me a choice.”

The first goal was from a corner when we stopped fannying about with short ones and put in a cross which Alan Lithgow powered in. Not long after, Brian Prunty’s shot took a deflection and went past the keeper.

2-0 at half time and easy street? This is Dumbarton. You should know better.

Stenny made three chances in the second half more or less from nothing each time, two from Andy Rodgers, both well saved by Stephen Grindlay (who seems to have improved on crosses by the way and was otherwise untroubled except by the goal which was a great strike from the substitute – look out for it on Sons TV.)

We had a barrowload of chances and didn’t score any of them. The most prominent was when Prunty had a free header at a virtually open goal but somehow managed to head it back towards the keeper.

This was my first look at loanee Ross Finnie* – some nice touches but wrong decisions at times – and Ally Graham, who didn’t do much. As a result of the sendings-off we didn’t really need a midfield enforcer so it was a good game for Kevin Nicoll to miss through suspension.

But a game we should have put to bed quite easily ended up being a bit of a worry at the end due to the slim margin. And the possibility of improving our goal difference vis-á-vis Stenny was lost.

We’ll need to be sharper on Tuesday night at Forfar.

*Edited to add:- make that Ryan Finnie.