Friday 22nd December 2017
AN important 3-game festive schedule begins tomorrow for Sons, with Falkirk visiting the YOUR Radio 103FM Stadium for Ladbrokes Championship action.
Dumbarton will be looking to extend their points advantage over the Bairns who sit one place below Sons in the league table.
Stevie Aitken commented : “It’s an important game tomorrow, no doubt.
“Everyone can see the significance of it.
“We’ll be looking to get back on track following last week’s unfortunate loss at Inverness.
“It was a game where I felt we at least deserved a point and we played well in spells. Tomorrow though, we will need to be alert from the start of the game.”
John McKendrick takes charge of his second Dumbarton game of the season tomorrow, having officiated against Clyde when Sons lost 2-1 in July. Assistants will be Mark McLean and Chris McTiernan.
Sons defeated the Bairns 2-1 at a similar stage in the season last year. On 17th December 2016 a Garry Fleming strike clinched the points for Dumbarton after an Aaron Muirhead own goal had put Sons ahead before Craig Sibbald equalised. Team : Martin, Buchanan, Docherty, Harvie, Barr, Smith, Stanton, Stirling, Fleming, J Thompson, R Thomson: Subs – Brown, Pettigrew,Wright, McCallum, Stevenson, Todd.
Kyle Hutton will serve a suspension at the end of this month against Morton, but is available tomorrow for the visit of Falkirk. Long term injury victims Danny Handling (pictured) and Grant Gallagher continue to make good progress, with the former getting more training sessions under his belt. Mark Stewart has started light training but will be unavailable.
Alan Findlay