Saturday 12th May 2018
AS it stands, Stuart Carswell has got Dumbarton on course for a seventh Championship season.
But he doesn’t want to keep that responsibility for another 90 minutes.
He doesn’t just want the job finished in tomorrow’s play-off final second leg at home to Alloa Athletic. He wants it killed off and buried with victory on the day against the Wasps.
And he is well aware from Wednesday’s first leg of how tough that will be. It was an evening of fierce competition from first whistle to last.
In the end, it was Stuart’s sixth-minute goal that made the difference on the night. However, he knows it hasn’t decided the overall tie – at least not yet.
Speaking to www.dumbartonfootballclub.com, Stuart said: “We’ve got ourselves the lead from the first leg and we’ve got to try and capitalise on that.
“We don’t want to sit back – we want to go for another goal. The first goal tomorrow will be vital.
“We’ve given ourselves a very good chance by winning the first leg and we’ll be going into tomorrow with a positive mindset. We know what we have to do.
“But we saw on Wednesday what Alloa can do. They passed the ball very well, better than we thought they would, and that’s a credit to them.
“It was a good surface for them, and one they’ve played on all season. It’s not astro grass, which is what we train on.
“They gave a good account of themselves and tomorrow it is about what we do.
“We trained at our stadium on Friday and things were all positive. The gaffer touched on a few things about Alloa’s game and a few things about our game and everybody is up for it.
“I don’t think we played our best on Wednesday but to go away from home and win the first leg – we’d have bitten your hand off for that before the game.”
Stuart’s searing 25-yard goal was only the second of his career – his first having also been a long-distance effort against Elgin City six months earlier.
He was also close to scoring on a few occasions on Wednesday, and enjoyed demonstrating the more attacking side to his game.
Now he is desperate for Sons to be a Championship team again next season.
He added: “It could be the most important goal I’ll ever score.
“We usually play a 4-2-3-1 formation but on Wednesday we played a 4-4-1-1. Kyle Hutton played sitting midfield with me just in front.
“That gave me more chances to get forward as I knew Kyle would always be behind me. I really enjoyed it.
“When you look at our stats, we’ve made ourselves a Championship team now. We’ve been the best part-time team for a few years and that’s something we’re all really proud of.
“If you don’t want to succeed and take pride in what you do, you’ll go down the divisions, but everybody wants to do as well as they can and it’s important for us that we’re in the Championship again next season.
“We’d be the only part-time team in it but it’s something we’d relish. Obviously Brechin found it tough this season and it’s not easy. People think there’s not a big difference but there can be.
“So we’ve given a good account of ourselves and we want that to continue.”
Andy Galloway