Monday 10th February 2020
THE last time Robert Jones played at Links Park, he came away with a broken hand.
It’s a different sort of pain he wants to inflict on Montrose on Saturday.
Not the physical sort, just anguish at being the first team to be beaten by Dumbarton in 2020.
And the second team already to concede a goal to the striker since his arrival at Sons late in the January transfer window.
Having marked his debut with a goal against East Fife, there was frustration from the 24-year-old that he couldn’t add to it against Airdrieonians on Saturday.
Storm Ciara played as big a part in that as anything else, with a biting, swirling wind making flowing football almost impossible.
Dumbarton, though, continue to seek their first win of the New Year, and Robert is hopeful it can come at Montrose this week.
Speaking to www.dumbartonfootballclub.com, he said: “It’s been enjoyable so far and I’m happy to be here.
“I broke my hand the last time I played against Montrose [for Stranraer in October]. It’s a hard place to go with their astroturf pitch, and they are flying up the league, but hopefully we can get something from them.
“It was good to score in my first game, but today everybody could see that there was pretty much no football on show.
“It was a battling performance and we just worked as hard we could. You just take whatever you can get from games like that.
“It feels a bit strange to be back so soon after playing in opposition, but you always know when you come here as an opposition player it’s going to be difficult.
“We didn’t create many chances today but it was difficult to even get the ball down and play. You just kick and hope. Hopefully next week the conditions will be a bit better.”
Robert’s opening goal for Sons was the equaliser from 2-0 down at East Fife last Saturday. That was the positive side of the Methil trip, the downside was that it counted for nothing in a 4-2 defeat.
The hunt for results isn’t putting Dumbarton off aiming for success this season, but the striker knows the amount of work that lies ahead.
He added: “It was a perfect start for me. You want to score goals and get the first of them as soon as you can, so hopefully there will be a few more over the rest of the season.
“We want to finish as high in the table as possible. We have an eye on the play-off places and we’ll just aim to get the three points each week.
“We just have to take each game as it comes.”
Andy Galloway