Sunday 24th July 2022
MANAGER Stevie Farrell headed off to Stirling a satisfied man after watching his Dumbarton side win their final game of pre-season away to Irvine Meadow XI.
He conceded that Sons’ first half performance, which saw them go in at half time 2-1 down to the West of Scotland Premier Division side, was not up to scratch.
But an improved second half, after a few changes, saw a makeshift side turn it round for a 3-2 victory.
No sooner had the match finished than Stevie was off to watch Stirling Albion beat Peterhead 3-0 in their final Premier Sports Cup tie.
Before heading to Forthbank, he said: “That’s what you get when you come to play these teams.
“We looked at a few things and rested a few players. We decided not to risk Ross MacLean, who has been ill this week, and Ryan Wallace had a knock and we decided not to risk him either.
“Gregor Buchanan also played every minute of the Premier Sports Cup section. Finlay Gray cannot play next week, which is annoying, so he got some more game time today.
“We did not think the first half was good enough but to be fair to the players, they took our reaction like men and responded to it.
“We were far better in the second half. Ryan Blair and Finlay (who came on at half time) played well and we scored two great goals.
“It wasn’t about the result today, but it keeps the momentum going.”
One pleasing aspect of the victory was that strikers Ally Love and Declan Byrne assisted each other to score goals.
It is a positive aspect the manager hopes will translate into a positive start to the cinch League Two campaign against Stirling on Saturday.
He added: “Ally is a clever player and he will score goals this year. Even in pre-season he has posted a couple of goals.
“We are working really hard on Declan’s fitness levels and we feel he is maybe a week away, but it was a great goal he scored in the first half and a great assist in the second.
“It doesn’t matter what league, you always want to start it well. We know Stirling from our meeting a few weeks ago and we want to improve on the result we got against them that day.”
Dumbarton Football Club