Monday 25th July 2016
GREGOR BUCHANAN may have lost the war with Dumbarton on Saturday.
But he won the mini-internal battle. It was HIS goal that put Sons 2-1 up.
Some of those in attendance on Saturday claimed that Robert Thomson’s effort, which hit the bar, had bounced over the goal line.
Gregor, though, stuck it away, and insists he had it awarded to him by the match officials.
That, though, was the glory moment before a tough second half which saw Sons lose five goals for a 6-2 defeat.
It may sound like the score in a tennis set, but Gregor was taking the positives from a positive first half performance.
And he felt Dumbarton were due to put in that sort of display after the opening draw with Forfar (lost on penalties) and the defeat to East Fife.
Gregor said: “From our point of view, it was a game of two halves. I felt we could take a lot from the first half after putting in a good performance and scoring a couple against a top side.
“But they came out firing for the second half and ran over the top of us. We never played to our potential second half and when that doesn’t happen you are up against it when you play a quality side.
“The second goal is definitely mine! Obviously Robert was close to putting it away but the referee said his effort wasn’t given as a goal. It’s always nice to put it away anyway to make sure.
“The first half was a response to both games before it, as we’ve had a poor start to the season. We’ve not played to our full potential yet, although we’ve probably had a bit of bad luck with injuries and suspensions.
“Those usually hit you at a different time of the year, but we have players injured now and Grant Gallagher is suspended.
“We didn’t have everybody available but the boys have been giving it everything. It’s not a case of not trying or anything like that, it just hasn’t worked out for us yet.”
Sons have one more Betfred Cup group tie left, at home to Peterhead on Saturday.
They cannot qualify and, if the Blue Toon lose to Dundee over 90 minutes tomorrow night, neither will they be able to.
But whatever the circumstances, Gregor is hopeful of a victory which can lay foundations for a successful league campaign.
He added: “We are definitely looking to win as it’s disappointing not to win any games.
“It’s another game to get us ready for the start of the league season and we can use it as a stepping stone to East End Park.
“The manager will want us to put a marker down for that one.”
Andy Galloway