Saturday 7th August 2021
STEVIE FARRELL hailed the togetherness shown across the board at Dumbarton after today’s dramatic comeback to take a point at home to Airdrieonians.
A 2-0 deficit had Sons in a very difficult position, but goals by Ryan McGeever and Andy Geggan salvaged a point to keep Sons top of League One at this very early stage of the season.
The game arguably turned on the sending off of ex-Dumbarton right back Sam Wardrop for Airdrie on the hour mark.
It remained a tough task for Sons to claim something from the game, but Stevie ended the afternoon satisfied, although he felt victory could have been possible.
The gaffer said: “We showed some real character. I thought Airdrie had a lot of the ball but weren’t really hurting us. We’d started the game really well in the first half and the goal spooked us a bit.
“We lost a poor goal for the penalty but we got back into it. Nothing against the boy (Wardrop) but we spoke about him at half time. That’s part of the game.
“We sent Ross MacLean out to run at him as we knew he’d drop his shoulder and force him into making a challenge.
“The feeling in the dressing room is relief, but also disappointment at not winning. David Hopkirk had a good header and we had other chances.
“Before we scored there were one or two wrong decisions which meant we couldn’t get a chance away. We took the two full backs off late in the game to get natural wide players into the danger areas.
“We felt that Carlo Pignatiello has great energy and can play anywhere. He’s played for me at Stranraer so I trust him. His distribution today was really good.
“I didn’t bring Andy Geggan on expecting he would score the equaliser, but he’s got the quality and steel and agression that we needed.
“There’s a real togetherness at the club.”
Geggan and midfielder Paul Paton returned to the bench today, although Paton did not get on to the pitch.
Stevie said that caution is needed with his return, and that fellow midfielder Joe McKee is needed back in the squad.
He added: “We just need to be careful with Paul. He’s not played since our friendly at East Kilbride.
“Everybody could see today with the possession we had, with the final pass to unlock the door, that’s when Joe comes into his own. We need him back as soon as possible.
“We all know this is going to be a tight league. Today we played a team who finished in the playoffs last season and we’ve more than matched them.
“We are in a decent place, but so are many other teams, so we just have to keep working.”
The club website sat down with Stevie before today’s game for a chat about his life in football and what made him the manager he is today. Look out for that over the coming days.
Andy Galloway