SPFL Tier 4, New Bayview*, 9/3/24.

Well; I wouldn’t have given you odds that the game would be this close after the first five minutes. Nathan Austin had scored from a loose ball after their player had waltzed through our left hand side and Jay Hogarth only partially blocked the shot. Austin then somehow managed to hit the post when another goal looked certain and then they hit the bar with a long range effort. Another 5-0 or 6-0 shellacking as on Tuesday night loooked very much on the cards.

Our main tactic seemed to be to lump it up to the small man. Michael Ruth is a decent hold-up player but he’s not the tallest guy on a pitch.

Towards the end of the half we settled down and began to create. A great Michael Ruth turn allowed him to get a shot away from among a few bodies but it was straight at the keeper. Then Finlay Gray worked himself into a one-on-one but his shot went past the post.

The first ten minutes of the second half were a total turn round. We were all over them. A nice interchange between Ryan Blair (on as a sub for a harshly booked but not very effective at left back Blair Malcolm) and Tony Wallace got the ball to Finlay Gray just outside the box. He killed the pass then blasted the ball into the het in almost the same movement.

Our next goal was entirely down to Michael Ruth’s selfless running. He chased down a ball he had no right to get, made the defender play it and then nicked the ball before sending it across the edge of the area.  Finlay Gray gave it a nice dummy (he probably got a call)  and Jinky Hilton stroked it past the keeper. Delirium in the away end.

It didn’t last; we conceded poorly from a corner. (Why we didn’t leave at least one man up on opposition corners I have no idea. If we had, the penalty area would have been less crowded with more chance to clear a ball and someone to play it to.)

East Fife were more into it late on and I got increasingly annoyed that our assistant manager, Frank McKeown, kept telling our players to slow the game down. We might have won the game if we’d gone for it. (We might not have but I’ll never know now.)

Late on Jay Hogarth pushed a swerving shot somewhat uncomfortably onto the bar. A stronger hand would have pushed it out for a corner and subsequent events might have taken a different turn. East Fife reworked the situation and the ball got crossed to Nathan Austin whose header looked savable but was only deflected into the net by Jay Hogarth’s hand, not pushed away. Another late goal lost. I don’t suppose any Dumbarton fan was surprised. We make a habit of it. As we do of no-one moving to create space at our throw-ins (but on that one we always have.)

It was my first look at Hogarth, Gallagher Lennon, Cian Newbury and Aaron Healy. They all seem to be a bit raw yet for the hurly-burly of our division. Marc Kelly and James Graham came on for the last few minutes. On that evidence Kelly is no Michael Ruth.

*Apparently now the MGM Timber Bayview Stadium. Please yourselves.

SPFL Tier 4, New Bayview, 11/11/23.

This is only the second time this season I have watched the mighty Sons of the Rock in action. But East Fife’s ground is only 7 or so miles away from where I live so it seemed only right to turn up.

We survived an early scare when Tony Wallace headed the ball but straight to an East Fife attacker for a one-on-one only for Brett Long in our goal to bail him out.

A minute or so later we took the lead a ball into the box reached Kalvin Orsi who poked it home for his first goal in 784 days.

Thereafter we kind of fell out of it for a while with East Fife knocking the ball about quite well but never really threatening. Then we had a spell where we had four great chances in about three minutes but East Fife’s keeper made one good and one magnificent save and there was a great last minute block to prevent us scoring again. We did get the ball in the net once more but it was chalked off for offside.

The second half was fairly uneventful. Our final balls were just a bit off. East Fife barely looked like scoring except for when Brett Long misjudged a situation, coming for a ball he was never going to get, and was left stranded. Enough defenders got back though to prevent a goal.

The fact that their keeper got their man of the match award kind of sums things up.

I must say Michael Ruth’s centre forward play was superb. He held up the ball and played others in. Sadly he didn’t get enough of the ball in the box to be able to score.We also had players actually showing for the ball at throw-ins. That is not the Dumbarton way.

The ref made some odd decisions. Par for the course these days.

Up front for East Fife Nathan Austin was a shadow of the player he used to be.

SPFL Tier 2, Tulloch Caledonian Stadium, 14/4/18.

We started the game well enough, scored the opener – Andy Stirling skinning his man and cutting the ball back beautifully for Grant Gallacher to thump it into the net – but we didn’t hold on to it long enough. The equaliser was a great strike, but the guy took the ball up in midfield with no-one near him and no-one closing him down.

If we’d held on till half-time maybe things might have been different, but just before the break Craig Barr inexplicably switched off and didn’t chase the ball allowing Nathan Austin in to round Scott Gallacher and roll it into the net.

In the second half we fell right out of it and they started to walk through us. We looked tired. I suppose, as I always suspected they would, games have caught up with us. It’s not really a surprise to me that our first bad winter in this division has coincided with our worst performance in it. And the postponements due to the Challenge Cup run haven’t helped.

The introduction of Liam Burt and Mark Stewart improved us – why wasn’t Burt on from the start? He always looked capable of fashioning something and Mark Stewart was a bigger threat than Calum Gallagher had been – but we were three and four down by the time the subs were made.

At least we looked a bit of a goal threat for the early part of the game. The play-offs might be a stretch too far though.