Scottish Cup, Round 6, Pittodrie Stadium, 8/3/14.

So, the dream lasted 53 minutes. It was good while it lasted.

Actually the dream was still on till the final whistle – but only of salvaging a draw.

A large contingent of Sons supporters travelled up to Pittodrie – for long stretches making more noise than the home fans, at least from the area where the away contingent was closeted. Several old favourites were trotted out along with the usual “Dumbarton,” clap, clap, clap, and “Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh. You’re shite, aaaaaah,” including, “We forgot that you were here,” “What a shitey home support,” “You only sing when you’re winning.” Special kudos to Aberdeen keeper Jamie Langfield for responding to the chant, “Jamie Langfield, you’re a wanker, you’re a wanker,” with a grin and thumbs up.

Aberdeen were undoubtedly the more accomplised team, they achieved more subtle angles and passes than we are used to but we matched them for just about the whole game. That their defenders had their arms around our two strikers every time the ball came up to them says a lot (one particular instance in the penalty box comes to mind.) So does the fact that the Aberdeen man of the match was centre half Russell Anderson. They looked vulnerable to the ball over the top (until Colin Rhyming Slang was substituted – he’d pulled up after an aerial challenge in their box and lasted only a few more minutes.) We resorted to that direct ball a little too often after they scored but our normal passing game was not as fluid as I’d hoped, Aberdeen not allowing us the space we’re used to. Aberdeen played with much more assurance after the goal but they still couldn’t produce the killer pass, tribute to our defence.

The goal was preventable, Scott Linton showed admirable confidence in trying to shepherd the ball out for a goal kick but he should have hoofed it. I just knew when the corner was awarded that the goal would come from it. And the corner could have been defended better.

(Poor Scotty’s day got worse when he got injured in a challenge and had to come off. Looked like a hamstring pull. We’ll miss his long throws.)

It wasn’t even our strongest team. Chris Turner was still out and loanee Mike Miller hasn’t started at centre half before.

Aberdeen got the benefit of 50/50 decisions from the referee – as you might expect for the “bigger” club.

One curiosity. The pitch was being watered, by pop-up sprinkler, before the game and at half time. Is this usual practice at Pittodrie or were they trying to make the pitch heavy because we’re a part time team?

Special mention to Andy Graham. He looked as if he was injured with about 25 minutes to go but kept on running and chasing and tackling even though he looked totally knackered.

It shows how far we’ve come in the past five years that the overriding emotion after we’ve lost 1-0 away to the second best team in the country is disappointment rather than relief.

I just hope that the efforts of this game and the injuries sustained don’t cost us in the league.

For those of you who know me see if you can spot me in this photo from the Dumbarton FC website.

For those of you who don’t, I’m somewhere above the D of the Dumbarton in the banner.

SPFL Tier 2, The Rock, 22/2/14

I’ll take this – even though we were one up twice – as it keeps our unbeaten run in 2014 going and we were also one down at one point.

Nice to see Scott Agnew get on the score sheet. It’s his first non-penalty of the season. I don’t know if he’ll keep his place once Chris Turner is fit again though.

But… Cowdenbeath won again. The gap from us in fourth to them in ninth is only eight points. Safety is still a long way off.

Yet a draw next week at Palmerston will keep us fourth.

I hope the prospect of the Aberdeen Cup game the week after won’t be a distraction.

SPFL Tier 2, Recreation Park, 18/1/14.

Stunning. Simply Stunning. I’d never envisioned this when I looked towards this match.

I can’t remember seeing such a one-sided first half when we were the side on top – especially away from home. (Even the 6-0 at East Fife two and a half years ago wasn’t so lop-sided.) We were two-nil up, at 30 mins in, before they had a decent attack. Stephen Grindlay had had only pass backs and one pick up to deal with until after Mark McLaughlin deflected a cross in and Chris Turner got his head onto another. He did have to make a save from close-in header at 2-0, though. Chris Kane had hit the bar about 5 mins in and late in the first half converted a chase with their keeper to the corner of the box into a penalty which he took himself. There was contact but he’d seen it coming and didn’t avoid it. 3-0 at half time was already dreamland. I’d worked out that our goal difference – not to mention our points – was now better than Alloa’s.

They came out a bit more fired up in the second half but couldn’t make any impression. Jordan Kirkpatrick set up a shooting chance for himself but his piledriver just cleared the post, Mark Gilhaney had a great chance, one-on-one with the keeper whom he rounded but sent his shot over. (Well, we were shooting downhill by then.) They, however, ran up the park and scored but only while Mitch Megginson was temporarily laid out in our penalty area.

Any thoughts of a comeback were snuffed out when a cross reached Chris Kane – what a worker he is; brave too – he played for about an hour with a bandage up his nose after a clash. He ought to have put the cross in with his first touch but instead it teed up for him to belt it past the keeper.

The best was the last, a peach; a superb cross from the right was hit first time on the volley by Jordan Kirkpatrick and rocketed into the net. Jordan’s reward was an immediate substitution! That gave Scott Agnew some game time though.

Brilliant performance. Pass marks all round, I even noticed Colin Rhyming Slang making defensive clearances. Alloa were much poorer than I’d thought they would be. No need for Paul Hartley to chuck in the towel as their manager after the game, I’d have thought though.

Moreover, an unlikely concatenation of results means we’re now fourth in the table. In a promotion play-off spot. Our highest league position in 30 years.*

When will I wake up?

*Edited to add: Our highest league position in nigh on 30 years.

SPFL Tier 2, The Rock, 20/12/13

Well a home win will do nicely. Especially because it’s the first since August, was against a team in the top two and achieved without our two best midfielders. Scott Agnew is still out and Chris Turner didn’t recover from limping off at Stark’s Park on the 13^th.

I was surprised Jordan Kirkpatrick got a start today after being carried off last week. And Colin Rhyming Slang was on the bench.

Plus we gained ground on Cowdenbeath, Queen of the South and Livingston.

Maybe my gloom and doom of last week was misplaced.

(Maybe.)

SPFL Tier 2, Stark’s Park, 14/12/13

Not a good day for a game. High wind and driving rain for most of it.

Sons held their own in the first half yielding one chance which the guy blazed against the bar and over, while at the other end ours fell to Colin Nish (two headers wide and one shot right at the keeper) and another header – by whom it was too far away to see – that flashed past the post.

Second half we were on top and they broke away while sub Mitch Megginson and Mark Gilhaney were both on one side of the park and they exploited the space to score.

The sending off might have chaned the game but we got hopelessly out of shape (again!) and got caught three on one on the counter.

Late on Andy Graham played a great forward ball (he was our most incisive player all game – from centre half) to other sub Garry Fleming who swept it across for final sub Steven McDougall to score.

We should have got a draw from this but Raith had three real chances and took two of them. Pity most of ours fell to Colin Nish – whose name would make good rhyming slang. At one point he was unchalleged going for a high ball and still missed it.

Things everywhere did not go well for us. Jordan Kirkpatrick was our best player but was carried off injured in the first half and with all subs committed Chris Turner had to go off too meaning our midfield next week is probably going to look decidedly strange. Then Cowden go and win at Dens! You can’t trust anyone these days.

I’ve now got a very bad feeling about the season. Ian Murray’s going to be tested as a manager from here on in.

SPFL Tier 2, Almondvale Stadium,* 16/11/13

Well; after half an hour I couldn’t see this coming. We had looked sprightly enough early on but never threatened their keeper and then about twenty minutes in they scored when there appeared to be no danger. Sometimes you just have to say it was briiliant. The ball came on from the wing and Mark McNulty hit it exquisitely first time. Jamie Ewings was never stopping it. That’s two wonder strikes against us in the last two games I’ve been to. Jamie did make a great tackle in a one-on-one a few minutes later and had another good save in the second half. Plus he had had to look lively at their first corner to stop the wind taking the ball in, and they hit the bar at 1-0.

Mitch Megginson’s leveller was a thumper. Andy Graham then Colin Nish held it up in the box. Mitch fair belted the lay-off, Sons fans perfectly placed to see it was in the moment he hit it.

Second half we came out much more aggressively and had more attempts on goal in the first minute than in the whole of the first half. Mark Gilhaney’s shot then Jordan Kirkpatrick’s parried effort which Colin Nish ought to have converted rather than poking it over.

Looked like Ian Murray had told them during the interval to press much higher. Whatever, it worked. We started to exploit them on the break. Paul McGinn’s great run up the wing saw him cleverly step inside, the defender took him over inside the box. After some dealy Chris Turner converted. Some turn round.

We began to defend a little too deeply for a bit but a swift counter attack took the ball from our box to theirs via a fine upfield ball to Jordan Kirkpatrick who switched it all the way across to Mark Gilhaney who eveded his man to get clear in the box and looke dset to score but cleverly tuned tha ball across for sub Brian Prunty (on for the mostly ineffectual Colin Nish) to tap it in.

The rest of the game was spent waiting for the final whistle – only a couple of near-close things.

This was a win we needed though. Had we lost things would be looking a bit glum.

*Edited to add:- They’ve changed the stadium’s name again. It’s now the Energy Assets Arena. Oh tempora!

SPFL Tier 2, Recreation Park, 14/9/13.

A first away win. Excellent.

We dominated the early proceedings, forcing corners early on and only fell out of it a little towards the latter part of the half. Their goalie was troubled just the once though – by a slightly deflected Chris Turner shot – and Jamie Ewings not at all.

The goal had a touch of flukery about it, the ball came back to Mark Gilhaney after a corner, his shot struck Andy Graham who was still up in the box. He pivoted and slotted it in. The ball was only in play for two more seconds before half-time!

Second half they tried to keep the ball and suck us out but we resisted until we could flow forward. Nevertheless Jamie Ewings had to make a good save. Their equaliser had a similar touch of flukery to our goal, the ball rebounding to their player after the corner came over, with much the same result.

That gave them a bit of confidence and they started to press a bit more. Jamie Ewings had another good save (after an unbelievable point blank one from an offside player) but we continued to look menacing in attack. One great cross from Paul McGinn in particular.

The winner came when Andy Graham was demolished in the box. Scott Agnew buried the penalty.

Alloa ended up running out of ideas and resorted to humping the ball upfield, moving ex-Son Ben Gordon up front from centre half towards the end but really never creating anything.

2-1 but not many clear-cut chances. I’ll take it though.

Pass marks for everybody but Chris Turner wasn’t as effective as usual and could have talked himself into a sending-off. He was subbed, possibly as a precaution. Garry Fleming put himself about to good effect when he came on.

6^th! Not bad, and only one point off 2^nd.

SPFL Tier 2, Central Park, 31/8/13.

Three points lost.

I didn’t see it coming at half time but we had this game won and were cruising midway through the second. Then it all fell apart.

The first half was formless, not helped by a blustery wind which got worse as the game went on.

Despite not threatening at all Cowdenbeath won two corners in the first quarter. In the conditions our passing game cried out for the shout, “Too much football, Dumbarton!” It’s obviously the way Ian Murray wants us to play though.

Their goal came after Andy Graham was pushed for pace as he chased a forward out right, failing to prevent the pass to the wing. When the ball came in a Cowden player was in space for the shot.

We eventually won three corners right at the end of the half but took no advantage.

Our two goals were belters, fine strikes from Chris Turner, one with each foot. The first the keeper seemed to have covered but it went through his hands. The second was even better; hit the net like a rocket.

Then came the fall. Last man Aaron Barry tried to be too clever and was robbed of the ball. The attacker was straight in on Jamie Ewings who had no chance with the shot.

We began to push for the win then and alarming gaps appeared at the back. This wasn’t helped by the substitution of Scott Agnew by Brian Prunty denuding the midfield.

I thought we’d dodged that bullet when Jamie Ewings saved a penalty late on but the lesson wasn’t learned, we were equally open in the next Cowden attack when they got the winner.

Three points lost but we hadn’t been creative enough. Apart from an early Scott Agnew free kick, which may have been creeping past, their keeper really only had the two goals to (fail to) save. And those were from long range strikes.

Had we actually won this we’d have been equal second on points.

As it is we’re only three points off bottom.

The game at Alloa on Sep 13^th now becomes a mustn’t lose.

Edited to add: This was my first look at both Colin Nish and Hugh Murray. The fact they’re not mentioned in the above post might tell you something.

Scottish League Cup,* Round 1, The Rock, 3/8/13

A win’s not to be sneezed at.

But…

We beat the same club 2-0 at the same stage last season and this season they’re a Division lower.

However, I thought this wee Rovers side was better than last year’s so make of that what you will.

This was played on a fiery pitch with a gusting wind in the first half so ball control appeared to be difficult.

Even so there were signs here of a new approach under Ian Murray, passing the ball even from the back. Here debutant Aaron Barry, on loan from Sheffield United, looked a good addition, composed on the ball and reading the game well. We did miss Jim Lister when the ball was played forward in the air though. It was my first sight of Scott Linton at left back and Mitch Megginson wide right. Both had solid games.

Rovers only had one legitimate effort on goal the whole game, ex-Son Scott Chaplain’s effort being parried on to the post by Jamie Ewings. Having said that, their keeper didn’t have all that much to do either, though he had a fine stop from a Chris Turner shot early on and a flap at a Mark Gilhaney shot in the second half. (Former Sons Mick Dunlop, Kevin Nicholl and Liam Cusack were also in Albion’s starting eleven.)

Scott Agnew misplaced a lot of passes but it was his exquisite ball inside the defender that led to the goal. Two of them got mixed up trying to combat Mark Gilhaney’s run and he nipped the ball. I thought he might hit it first time but this is Mark Gilhaney. He’d had an opportunity to do that earlier and tried to take on the full back and lost the ball. This time he seemed to take an age to round the keeper but he finished it off nicely.

We didn’t have to do too much after that and as a result let Rovers into the game a bit in the second half.

We need to be more clinical and carve out more chances. I doubt a First Division (sorry, I know there’s a new name for the Division, but it’s bollocks: I think I’ll go with Tier 2) side will be as accommodating to our midfield and defence as Albion were.

Falkirk next week will be a test of that.

*Scottish Communities League Cup, if you must.

SFL Div 1, East End Park, 23/3/13

Astonishing!

The scale of this result can be measured by the fact that Dunfermline had won their last 12 games against us and we hadn’t won at East End Park since 1986.

1-0 down at halftime I couldn’t see it coming. We weren’t 2-0 down long enough for me to be too despondent but at 3-1….?

Fortunately Chris Turner hit an absolute belter to make it 3-2 almost straight afterward and that sowed seeds of doubt in the home team.

We actually had a good first ten minutes but fell out of it for the rest of the half apart from Chris Turner having an effort chalked off for offside. I was in line and he looked OK to me. Not the last time the linesman was to be derided.

Their first goal came from when Nick Phinn was pushed off the ball in our half and they ran up and scored. Stephen Grindlay seemed to be beaten very easily.

Their second was dreadful defending. Their forward went through about three half-arsed tackles before hitting it in the corner.

Two minutes later a great passing move saw the ball hit across goal by Paul McGinn and Steven McDougall was free just beyond the back post to score our first against Dunfermline this season.

This was immediately after Jim Lister had come on for Nick Phinn. He made a difference. The home centre backs knew they were in a game then.

Their third was a joke. The through ball that led to it saw two Dunfermline players offside both of whom subsequently touched it, one playing it forward to another while both were well beyond the defenders. The linesman’s flag stayed resolutely down. He made gestures to suggest a defender was playing them on on the far side. Utter rubbish. The rest of the match was filled with Dumbarton fans shouting at him and raising ironic cheers when he finally did flag someone offside. (It’s what we pay our money for.)

The equaliser came from a defender dwelling on the ball and Jim Lister chasing him down, he then picked out Scott Agnew with a cut back, not the more obvious ball across the box. Aggie finished cleverly back the way it had come. Dreamland.

It then got better.

Our fourth was another intricate passing move finished off by Steven McDougall, calmness personified in the box, beating his man before slotting it past Paul Gallacher.

Dunfermline pressed for the few minutes remaining but we always managed to get bodies in the way or tackles in.

Up to today we had only 4 points out of the last 21 and the Murray magic seemed to have gone. Now it’s 7 out of the last 24. Even with Dunfermline’s troubles this must give the lads great confidence.

Games come thick and fast now, starting at home on Wednesday, then two in a row at Hamilton.

Edited to add:- Chris Turner was lucky to stay on the field after his deliberate hack at Josh Falkingham. I know Falkingham’s an annoying wee so-and-so but serious foul play is serious foul play no matter who it’s committed against.