Friday 6th August 2021
AFTER the excellent start to the cinch League One season last week, Dumbarton return home for the first time in over three weeks to face Airdrieonians tomorrow.
Manager Stevie Farrell has been encouraged by the performance of his players in training after winning 3-0 away to Clyde last week.
However, tomorrow is another game, and everybody is aware of the challenge awaiting Sons on their home pitch.
Stevie is also wary of a response from the Diamonds to the defeat at home to Montrose that started their league season last Saturday.
The gaffer said: “We were all delighted by how last Saturday worked out but that is in the past now and we need to start the process of trying to win a game all over again.
“The players are in a good place right now and have worked hard in training this week. We’re confident they’ll be in good shape to face Airdrie.
“However, we know how tough a test we face and are not fooled by Airdrie’s result last Saturday. They have recruited positively during the close season and are a very capable side.
“We’ll have to be on top of our game to take anything from the game and we’ll need to maintain the standards we set last Saturday to give ourselves a chance. However, we are looking forward to it and are optimistic we can continue the good start.”
Unfortunately, there has been a blow ahead of the game. Despite initial post-match expectations, Joe McKee hasn’t recovered sufficiently from the knock he sustained at Broadwood and won’t feature tomorrow.
Paul Paton, Pat Boyle and Andy Geggan have all returned to training but the game may yet come a bit too soon for them.
Otherwise, the gaffer has a full squad available.
If you’re coming to the game tomorrow, then we look forward to seeing you there. If you haven’t done so already then please read our previous story detailing admission arrangements for home and away fans.
The stadium will be open from 10am tomorrow if you have yet to collect a ticket for the home end tomorrow, or collect your season ticket. It is also open today until 1.30pm.
Stevie will also have a more familiar view of proceedings tomorrow, as the dugouts will revert to the usual side of the pitch.
If you can’t get to the Rock for the game, then we’ll be streaming the action live – details of that are available here.
We’ll also have in-play Twitter commentary on our feed @dumbartonfc and we’ll have a report and reaction online ASAP after the final whistle.
Barry Cook will be the referee for the third time in our last five home league outings (going back to last season, excluding playoffs) tomorrow and will be assisted by Colin Drummond and Michael MacDermid.
Andy Galloway