Sunday 28th February 2016
DARREN BARR wheeled away thinking he’d just helped Dumbarton win at even more of a canter.
As it turned out, if anything he’d done more than that. He’d just headed what proved to be the winner.
The goal that gave Sons their second victory over promotion-chasing Hibernian this season, this one by a 3-2 scoreline.
And for the skipper, it had been a long time coming. When Dumbarton beat the Leith side 2-1 in August, he had to watch it all from the stand due to injury.
He couldn’t celebrate THAT Willie Gibson free kick. He couldn’t dig in, see out every remaining minute which felt like an eternity, to ensure a famous win.
Gibson may no longer be with Sons, but the second part of that certainly manifested itself yesterday as nerves were shredded.
There was some sort of inevitability about Darren, and fellow goalscorer Christian Nade, both ex-Hearts players, putting Hibs to the sword.
But his simple answer when that gets put to him is a laugh and: “You said that, not me!”
For him, it was all about bouncing back from recent disappointing results, and being able to muck in to beat Hibernian this time around.
Darren said: “It was a good game. They flung everything at us towards the end but we will certainly take the points.
“That’s especially after the result in midweek (lost 5-0 to Dundee). It was important to respond and give a good account of ourselves.
“When I scored I didn’t see it being the eventual winner, but I’m just happy with the three points. It’s about the team and we needed the result.
“It doesn’t matter who we play against – I want to be out there helping to get the points on the board.
“As captain, it’s tough to help your team see out a game like that. Hibs are a good side and you need to defend for your life.
“We dug in and even though I am the captain, that was an effort by everybody in the team.
“We have a few leaders out there. Now we need to show that more often in terms of how we impose ourselves on the game and the opposition goal.”
Despite victories in both home games against Hibs this season, Sons have never pretended that such fixtures will define their season.
Now it’s on to two games which will.
And Darren is under no illusions about the importance of this week’s matches, at home to Alloa on Tuesday followed by a visit to second-bottom Livingston on Saturday.
Six points will be a giant step towards a fifth season in the Championship, but the skipper is taking nothing for granted.
He added: “Tuesday and Saturday will be massive for us and we can’t get carried away.
“We need to get straight into the Alloa game and will take confidence from beating Hibs. There is always optimism in the camp and although we’ve lost a few slack goals, it’s stayed with us.
“It was massive to end our goal drought as well. The most important thing was to get back among the goals as we haven’t been scoring many of late.
“Hopefully we can carry the form on into these important games.”
Andy Galloway