Saturday 21st August 2021
MANAGER Stevie Farrell conceded that his Dumbarton side need to stop giving opponents a head start after today’s defeat to Cove Rangers.
After a flat first 45 minutes where they went 2-0 down, Sons fought hard to respond in the second half only for a late penalty to finish the contest.
And the gaffer was only too aware of the need for a change to the current pattern, with the last four games now having seen Sons trail by at least two goals at some point.
He said: “We can’t afford to keep going 2-0 down and looking to get something from games. In the second half we pressed really well, but the first half gave us a mountain to climb.
“Our goalkeeper has not had a save to make in the first half and he’s pulled the ball out of the net twice.
“It is not as if teams are carving us open – the goals we are conceding are just not good enough. Ultimately that is my responsibility.
“If we stop doing that then that performance shows we can go and compete. In the second half we were the better side but we couldn’t get the second goal.
“If you give teams two goals of a start, you won’t get much out of the game.
“We need to get tighter to people. We are standing off in the wrong areas. We have lost six goals around the 20-25 minute mark in the last five games and that is something we need to address.
“In the middle part of the first half we seem to switch off and that’s a mental thing. I don’t think it’s competence or ability.
“We’ve shown we can keep clean sheets and compete and ensure we don’t concede goals. It’s not the players’ job to sort that – it’s my job. If we do that we will give ourselves a chance.”
However, there were positives to come from the game, with Paul Paton and Callum Wilson each making their first starts for Dumbarton in midfield.
Stevie added: “Paul did well today. I thought he got about and passed the ball really well. He’s only played half of a pre-season game.
“We were hopeful that Joe McKee would come back this week but he has broken down.
“However, Callum has bided his time. He is a young boy and we’ve kept the reins on him, but he came in today and did his chances no harm at all.
“He will want to play in the games to come and quite rightly so.”
Andy Galloway