Friday 1st January 2021
TOMORROW sees Dumbarton play their first fixture of 2021, when Airdrieonians are visitors to the C&G Systems Stadium.
And don’t forget – it’s an early kick-off tomorrow, with the teams due to start at 1pm.
There was limited room for celebration at the Hogmanay bells among the squad, with Sons facing another important match.
After the postponement of the Boxing Day game against East Fife, the players have had an extra week to work on how best to progress.
It is something that manager Jim Duffy hopes will bear fruit against the Diamonds, who were beaten 2-0 at the Penny Cars Stadium when the sides last met in October.
The gaffer said: “The players were keen to get back into match action as soon as possible so we were disappointed with the call-off last week.
“The weather has been a bit hit and miss this week but we hope it will relent tomorrow and we will be able to face Airdrie.
“Despite the result last time out, we expect a tough game, as Airdrie have played well of late and ran in four goals against Clyde on Boxing Day.
“But the players’ effort in training over the festive season has, as ever, been first class. Now it is about translating that into gaining something from the match.”
Celebrations when the sides last met in October. Copyright Andy Scott Photos 2020
Striker PJ Crossan has recovered from the illness which meant he missed the Montrose game and would also have ruled him out against East Fife.
He comes back into contention, leaving Matthew Reilly as the only absentee tomorrow.
Although it is a new year, unfortunately it is the same method of watching games for our fans, as matches remain behind closed doors.
Details of how to book your stream are as per our previous story.
If you can’t get to a screen tomorrow, we’ll have in-play Twitter commentary on our feed @DumbartonFC, and our report will be here on the club website ASAP after the final whistle.
In relation to the game going ahead, we will continue to monitor the condition of the playing surface, with temperatures set to be low overnight.
Should a pitch inspection be needed, we will advise of that and the outcome as soon as possible via our website and social media channels.
Tomorrow is Airdrie’s third away match in a row and having won each of the previous two, against Falkirk and Clyde, they will fancy their chances.
Their team which beat Clyde last week was: Currie; MacDonald, Kerr, Crighton, Fordyce, Thomson, McKay, Robert (McCann 68), Ritchie, Carrick (Sabatini 84), Connell (Roy 89). Subs: Hutton; Mbayo, O’Reilly, Walker, Stokes, Hughes.
Gavin Ross is the referee for tomorrow’s game, and Andy Milne and Ian Hart will run the lines.
Andy Galloway