Friday 2nd July 2021
NINETY minutes are now all that stand between Dumbarton and the start of competitive business in season 2021/22.
Those will be played tomorrow at home to Clydebank in the final pre-season fixture before the Premier Sports Cup campaign starts against St Mirren.
The Bankies have been on-and-off pre-season opponents for Sons for the last decade, and the local derby has not been without its edge.
Dumbarton manager Stevie Farrell is looking forward to seeing his players in friendly action one last time before the season starts.
After back to back clean sheets at home to Motherwell and Morton, hopes are high that pre-season can come to a positive end.
The gaffer said: “It was two difficult workouts against clubs from the Premiership and Championship and it was good to come through them well.
“Tomorrow will be a different type of test and I know that it’s a local derby, so that gives us a bit more incentive with fans back in the ground. We’re looking forward to it.
“We’ve been working really hard in training and standards have been to make us hard to beat firstly to give ourselves a platform.
“I’ve always felt that eight or nine clean sheets a season will help you do very well and we’ve set a good standard for the season ahead with the clean sheets this week.
“One challenge this season will be not to concede goals and to keep two clean sheets against challenging opponents so early on was very pleasing.”
However, five signed players will be missing tomorrow, with David Hopkirk and Eoghan Stokes having to self-isolate due to close contacts who tested positive.
The pair are expected to be able to return to footballing business this week, Hopkirk earlier than Stokes.
Stevie reports that thankfully, no further such instances have occurred in the days since the Morton match, which Hopkirk and Stokes missed.
Pat Boyle and Paul Paton remain out injured and Andy Geggan will join them on the sidelines after an injury sustained against Morton.
However, the medical team are confident that none of their injuries are long-term and work is ongoing to have them ready to play.
Trialists will once again boost the numbers tomorrow, and talks are continuing with the trialist who has played at full back in the three pre-season matches so far.
If you’d like to attend the match and haven’t already registered to do so then please get in touch with the club as soon as possible. Details are as per our previous story.
If you can’t get to the stadium tomorrow, then the game can be streamed live for £5 – details of this are also as per our previous story.
Don’t forget that tomorrow’s game is a 2pm kick-off.
Andy Galloway