Match Report

Dumbarton came from behind for the fourth League One fixture in a row to earn another point against Arbroath at the Marbill Coaches Stadium.

Goals from Scott Stewart and Ryan Dow had the visitors in a comfortable position at the Rock in windy conditions, and when Michael Ruth missed a penalty with 20-minutes to go it may have been easy for the Sons to accept it wasn’t going to be their day.

They battled back, however, with Ruth writing his wrong to get one back before Matty Shiels slammed in the leveller.

Tony Wallace was introduced to the side in place of Kalvin Orsi who missed out through injury in the only change from the previous weeks draw against Cove Rangers.

The match was only five minutes old when the visitors took advantage of the conditions – a corner wasn’t dealt with by the hosts with Stewart trickling a shot into the net.

Ruth looked for an immediate response when his low shot was collected by Aidan McAdams – a sign of things to come throughout the tie.

Sons did struggle to get out of their own half for a large spell of the first-half with Brett Long making a couple of important saves to deny Quinn Coulson and deal with a succession of corners before a strong save, low to his left to prevent Stewart from adding a second.

At the other end, Mouhamed Niang had a shot deflect and head for the opposition corner. It looked as if McAdams was wrong footed, but he scrambled across to claw the ball away. Ruth was on hand to tuck the ball into an empty net, but he was in an offside position.

The visitors could have added to their tally before the break when Gavin Reilly was through on goal. He took the ball round Long, but Niang popped up with a crucial intervention and in some ways Dumbarton were pleased to be heading into the interval only 1-0 down.

Despite having the wind in their favour after half-time, the second period couldn’t have got off to a worse start for Sons when Dow timed his run perfectly to run on to a cross from the right and tuck a shot into the net.

The hosts had Arbroath penned in for the remainder of the half with Craig McGuffie coming close on a couple of occassions – one volley was off target before a swerving shot from 25-yards was pushed away by McAdams.

After a sustained period of pressure, Sons were awarded the perfect opportunity to get back into the game when substitute Joel Mumbongo weaved his way into the box before being brought down.

Ruth stepped up, but blazed his effort from 12-yards over the bar.

Only five minutes later he put things right when Mumbongo helped on a pass from Carlo Pignatiello that sent Ruth through on goal and he made no mistake this time with a clinical finish.

Just before the 80-minute mark, substitute David Wilson flicked on Pignatiello’s cross and forced McAdams into an instant reflex save. Fortunately for Dumbarton, the ball sat nicely for Shiels who brought his side level.

There were a number of chances in the final 10 minutes for Dumbarton to win it as the Lichties couldn’t get out their penalty area. Mumbongo was narrowly off target with a volley from Shiels cross before the latter looked to add his second of the afternoon but was denied by McAdams twice in quick succession.

The best chance fell to Mumbongo on 92 minutes when he turned 12-yards from goal and shot for the bottom corner, but it bounced just wide.