Saturday 29th February 2020
WHAT do you do when you’ve just crashed a 93rd minute winner past the league leaders?
Simple. You focus on the next challenge.
You do if you’re Stuart Carswell anyway. When he scores goals, he doesn’t tend to do it quietly.
A free kick against Elgin City, a 30-yard blast against Alloa Athletic and a drive from the edge of the area against Raith Rovers last season, for example.
It was the last of those that he repeated against the Kirkcaldy men today. But the contrast could hardly be bigger.
Last year his goal was enough for one point. This afternoon, it earned all three in staggering late drama.
His vicious shot from a half cleared corner was nowhere near the Rovers keeper’s reach. It was heading for the corner and was turning a creditable goalless draw into a vital victory.
But by the time he left the dressing room, only one thing was in his thoughts. Tuesday’s match at home to Forfar Athletic.
Sons are now fewer points away from third place than they are from the ninth-placed Loons, but every result remains vital, and three wins in a row is the skipper’s target.
Speaking to www.dumbartonfootballclub.com, Stuart said: “Every game is important and we don’t change the way we play against anybody. We go out there trying to win, whether it’s the leaders or teams at the bottom.
“Forfar will be no different. They will make it difficult for us even though they are at the bottom end of the table – that does not make it any easier.
“If it goes ahead, it’s another game we have to win.
“Late goals have gone against us over the last while, so we’re pleased to get one in our favour.
“I think we deserved to win today. We showed that we had the bottle to compete with them and we felt we could come out on top today.
“As long as you make contact and it’s on target you’ve always got a chance. It was a hard game for both sides in the poor conditions but we got the victory we fought for.”
It was the second daytime home game in a row played by Sons which was dictated by the wind.
They have yet to concede at home in 2020 and the goal is very much to keep the run of results going.
Stuart added: “The wind wasn’t as strong as it was against Airdrie three weeks ago.
“Keepers were kicking the ball past the halfway line and overall it wasn’t that bad. We’ve played in games where keepers can barely kick the ball out of their own half.
“Even with our bench today, with Ross Forbes, Jai Quitongo and Isaac Layne – we didn’t have that at the start of the season. That’s a big bonus for us.”
Andy Galloway