Friday 3rd August 2018
ANDY DOWIE has only ever played in Scotland’s third tier once before.
He’s got the winner’s medal to show for it.
And now, 11 seasons later, he wants to do it all again.
The Dumbarton captain’s only previous spell in what is now League One was with Ross County in 2008. Newly-relegated into the division, the Staggies went straight back up as champions.
The first part of that scenario has come around, as Sons’ six-year stay in the Championship finished at the end of last season. It’s something Andy still looks back on with agony.
But now he hopes that part two can also repeat itself, starting from tomorrow when Dumbarton go to East Fife in the League One opener.
Speaking to www.dumbartonfootballclub.com, Andy said: “I don’t think you can get lower in football than we did against Alloa last season.
“Losing the Irn Bru Cup final was a real disappointment – but being beaten in the play-off final was 100 times worse.
“I don’t think there is a scenario in football where you could feel worse than we did that afternoon.
“But now that it’s another new season, we hope we can bounce back straight away.
“There will be five or six teams who fancy their chances – not just of the playoffs, but of winning the league.
“And we’re definitely one of them.
“Our aim is clear – to win promotion. If it’s through the play-offs, we’ll take that, but we want to go up as champions.
“Now I’m coming to the later stage of my career, I won’t have an opportunity like this to win a league again.
“I’ve only played in this division with Ross County for one season, and I won it, so I really hope it’s the same outcome.
“But we know that will be the aim for a lot of clubs.”
Andy, who got his hands on the trophy this week at an SPFL photocall, was the first player to sign new terms during the close season.
He added: “I had a couple of other options, but I’ve a good relationship with the management and I’d actually agreed to re-sign two or three weeks before the end of the season.
“I think we’ve only got one injury ahead of facing East Fife tomorrow and everybody is fit and raring to go.
“The manager will have selection issues to deal with, but that’s a good thing. He didn’t have many of those last season.
“I think we finished the Betfred Cup group where most people expected us to, behind the two Premiership teams.
“We’re happy with how it went, apart from last Saturday at St Mirren. We got our fitness levels up across pre-season and everybody is ready.
“We’re looking forward to hopefully a successful season.”
Andy Galloway