Competitive football returns tomorrow as Dumbarton’s Premier Sports Cup campaign gets under way with the visit of East Kilbride [kick-off 3:00pm].
The two sides were drawn together in Group A of the competition with Aberdeen, Airdrieonians and Queen of the South completing the section.
It is set to be first ever competitive meeting between the sides, with Kilby involved as a result of winning the Lowland League last season.
Sons will be looking to build-on an encouraging pre-season ahead of life in William Hill League One, after gaining promotion in the 2023/24 campaign.
Boss Stevie Farrell returns to the dugout tomorrow and admits whilst he has been away, he is well aware of how his side have fared without him.
Speaking to the clubs website, he said: “I was really encouraged by our results throughout pre-season – but it’s all about performances and I was really pleased with how positive Frank McKeown and our coaching team were about how we played.
“It was no surprise to me that the guys have fared so well because we know a large majority of them from last season, and as we always do we have done our due diligence on the guys we brought in and they’ve fitted in to both the dressing well and the system seamlessly.
“The Premier Sports Cup always comes at a difficult time of the season for teams like us because we are still in the process of finalising our squad and wanting to take a look at some players who we haven’t signed, which the competition does not allow us to do.
“Despite being at home to a team further down the pyramid, it doesn’t mean it is going to be easy as you only need to take a glance at East Kilbride’s squad to get an idea of the players they have at their disposal. They are an excellent side who play football the right way and it’s going to be an extremely tough tie.
“We know if we can keep building on performances we have shown in the last couple of weeks, we will give ourselves a great chance and setting ourselves up nicely for the rest of the group stage format.”
Boss Stevie Farrell has a full pool of players to select from ahead of tomorrow’s fixture with the exception of the suspended Mark Durnan. Trialists are not eligible to play in the competition.
Match day information from our Supporters Liaison Officer can be found here: https://dumbartonfootballclub.com/match-day-information-dumbarton-vs-east-kilbride/.