Match Report

Dumbarton cruised into the third round of the SPFL Trust Trophy after a first-half blitz against Berwick Rangers at the Marbill Coaches Stadium.

Craig McGuffie scored his first two goals for the club whilst Michael Ruth netted on his 50th appearance for the Sons and David Wilson marked his return from injury with a goal.

Left-back Greig Young also made his first start for nearly a year as he continues his return from an ACL injury that kept him sidelined for the majority of last season.

Boss Stevie Farrell had initially made eight changes for the clash following the 3-3 draw with Alloa just a few days earlier with Paddy O’Neil, Aron Lynas, Cammy Clark, Greig Young, Mouhamed Niang, David Wilson, Tony Wallace and Joel Mumbongo all poised to come into the starting eleven.

There was one change to the named eleven shortly before kick-off, however, as Mumbongo picked up an injury in the warm-up and was replaced by Michael Ruth.

Dumbarton were in control throughout the evening and quickly found the opener on 10 minutes when McGuffie was on hand to tap the loose ball into an empty net after Calum Antell in the Berwick goal had initially denied Ruth.

Those two linked up against ten minutes later but were denied by Antell once more before Ruth finally got the better of the shotstopper when he latched onto a long ball over the top of the Berwick defence to lob the ball over the onrushing goalkeeper on 23 minutes.

McGuffie got his second and Dumbarton’s third with an acrobatic volley just after the half-hour with David Wilson rounding off a dominant first-half performance from the hosts when he helped the ball back across goal and into the far corner before the interval.

Finlay Gray, Kalvin Orsi and Panos Grivas were introduced at the interval as Farrell looked to spread minutes amongst the squad with under-20’s winger Jacob Shields also brought on after an hour.

He linked up with fellow development team player Grivas to create a couple of openings but Antell remained in fine form to prevent Dumbarton from adding to their tally with the damage done in the first-half.