Friday 24th April 2015
SONS spent the week preparing for their last away trip of the season, south to Dumfries to face promotion hopefuls Queen of the South.
The Doonhammers have a good record against Ian Murray’s team, with two wins and a draw, and are favourites for a play-off slot.
Gaffer Murray, who admits that it’s been a long season, has been talking about getting maximum effort when his team takes to the plastic pitch a Palmerston.
He told us: “With only two matches to go, we are getting to the end of what has been a tiring campaign.
“Queens are a good team and are chasing confirmation their promotion play-off place, so it’ll be very tough right from the start of the game.
“From our point of view, it’s all about finishing the season as strong as we can.
“Points are there to be played for and we want to halt the recent run of very disappointing results.”
Sons claimed a vital point in a hard fought 0-0 draw against Queen of the South at the Rock back in February, with the game ending 0-0. Conditions, it’s fair to say were not the best!
Dumbarton have had a week to reflect over the defeat by Rangers, their fourth on the bounce. Queens on the other hand have been in good form. Three wins, one draw and two losses in six matches is impressive stats as they try to claim that play-off spot.
Sons defence will need to be re-shaped, as captain Andy Graham misses out due to suspension. Combative midfielder Chris Turner is available to manager Murray following completion of his own two-game ban.
David Van Zanten is back in training, but is unlikely to feature tomorrow. Ruled out is on-loan striker Chris Duggan, who faces knee surgery and is unavailable.
Alan Findlay & Simon Barrow