So after six games against 3 B teams and 3 from the division above us in the league phase of the Challenge Cup as was (now the KDM Evolution Trophy) we ended up 11^th and so have been “drawn” to play Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the first knock-out round  (the draw was largely pre-determined by the league placings.

Since they won all six games they have played so far this season I doubt we’ll get any revenge for them defeating us in the final of the equivalent competition in 2018.

SPFL Tier 3, The Rock, 31/8/24.

Well. Here we are again.

Yet another draw.

And yet again coming from behind. Twice this time.

We were the better looking side in the early exchanges. Indeed Kelty really didn’t have an attack worthy of the name until they scored, a quick break showing an alarming fragility in our back line, waltzed through as if it were not there.

They looked extremely confident on the ball after that with a great awareness of where their teammates were and making seemingly blind passes. They were also very well organised defensively, always able to get a man in to make the crucial tackle or block. And if that failed their goalkeeper managed to make the save.

Not until the 43rd minute, after a few corners from the left had produced nothing, one from the right found Mark Durnan able to head in at the far post.

The second half followed a similar pattern. They scored when we lost the ball in midfield and worked the ball well into the area where the free guy stuck it through Brett Long’s legs.

It looked like the unbeaten run would end but then another Craig McGuffie corner was again headed in by Mark Durnan. That could almost have been a response to the immediately prior announcement of Durnan as man of the match. Personally I thought he was uncomfortable on the left of the centre back pairing.

Still, a draw against the team at the top of the league can’t be bad.

So it’s five league draws in a row now to start off the campaign (albeit with a Challenge Cup win against Berwick mixed in.) That sequence surely must be a club record.

But draws don’t get you up the league table. Not in these days of three points for a win. We really need to get one of those on the board.

There’s a break next week for the next round of the Challenge Cup, a long trip to Peterhead, before we’re down at Annan in a fortnight.

Well it looks like our run in the Challenge Cup* will again be a short one. We have been drawn against Peterhead away in the third round.

Our record up there isn’t good.

Set beside that our miseries in this competition in general and optimism has to be tempered by realism.

It’s a long way to travel for the game too.

*SPFL Trust Trophy.

Scottish Challenge Cup,* The Rock, 13/8/24.

This is a competition in which our record is truly dire. The worst of any club to play in it, in fact.

We do sometimes win our first tie but usually not our second. (The only time we did do so we went on to the final. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.)

Nevertheless, a 4-0 win (all goals in the first half, Craig McGuffie with two, Michael Ruth and David Wilson the others) is not to be sneezed at. Even if our opponents are two levels below us they have still had an impressive start to their season.

There are harder tests to come though.

*Call it the SPFL Trust Trophy if you must.

SPFL Trust Trophy,* Third Round , The Rock, 09/08/23

I went to this since it was the first ever meeting between the two sides. It was also an opportunity for me to buy the new home top as seen in the photo below – white top with black and gold stripes down left side of chest.

As to the game; it’s something of a wake-up call. We dominated early possession and made their keeper make a few saves. Then they scored in their first meaningful attack with our defence failing to deal with both the first and the second balls from a corner. Their second was a farce, a defensive error presenting Botti Biabi with a one-on-one he wsn’t going to miss. Declan Byrne did just that though about halfway through the half when beautifully played in, putting his shot just wide of the post.  In all we had no less than four gilt-edged chances in the first half which we spurned, plus another one in the second. Their keeper was certainly player of the first half. Michael Ruth did manage to pull one back after he twisted and turned his defender and sent his shot past the keeper.

Despite Kethen that they would scorelty having a sharpness about their approach play it looked more likely we would equalise but their third was another defensive disaster. We’d been trying to play it out from the back passing across the penalty area and such all second half (manager Steve Farrell must be encouraging this) but a short pass put Harry Broun in goal into bother and his attempted clearance had no chance of escaping Biabi’s challenge for the ball. It rebounded into the net.

I’ve no worries at all that we can create chances. It’s the taking of them that may be a problem. If I was a Kelty fan I would be worried at being so defensively open even though their keeper is certainly up to the job.

It was my first sight of a few of our new faces. Michael Ruth looks a player: whether he is one time will tell.

*aka the Challenge Cup.

It’s not been great. Two 1-1 draws so far. Nothing like as good as last season. But that start was a mirage.

Tomorrow we have a Challenge Cup* tie away to Kilmarnock B. It’s a game we could do without. Fair enough the competition is a supposed chance to make progress in a national cup but our record in it is seriously poor.  One final apart, we have never made any deep inroads into it. And B teams should be nowhere near it. We might as well not bother. I doubt many of our fans will. We would be much better preparing for our next league game.

*SPFL Trust Trophy.

So it all starts over again.

Another round of Saturdays spent in anticipation/dread to be folowed by delight or despair depending on the result.

Sons kick off against Bonnyrigg Rose at New Dundas Park this afternoon. We drew with them only a couple of weeks ago in the League Cup and might have been playing them again in ten days if they hadn’t lost to Kilmarnock B in the Challenge Cup. As it is we’ve got a trip to Ayrshire (or wherever Kilmarnock B play their home games) now.

But this is the real stuff.

I can’t imagine we’ll start off winning seven games in a row again, though.

Sons have been given a bye in Round One of the SPFL Trust Trophy (once known as The Challenge Cup.)

It will be either Kilmarnock B or Bonnyrigg Rose away in the second round.

Since we play Bonnyrigg in the League Cup as well, and first up in the League, then, should it come to pass, we’ll soon be sick of the sight of them.

Today is the 150^th anniversary of the founding of Dumbarton FC, first football Champions of Scotland and one of only seven teams whose names can be found on the Scottish Cup (as opposed to plinths below it.)

I obviously haven’t supported the Sons for that length of time. (It just feels like it.)

I wasn’t around for the glory days of those two League Championships in 1891 and 1892, nor the Scottish Cup (1883) and Festival of Britain St Mungo Quaich (1951) wins but I have witnessed seven promotions including three divisional championships, a Scottish Cup semi-final and a Challenge Cup final. Not bad for a diddy team.

Tomorrow’s home game against East Fife will be a special celebration day.

Congratulations to DFC on its anniversary.

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