Friday 5th August 2016
LAST season he took just 19 seconds to make an impression.
By Donald McCallum’s own admission, that will be difficult to match. But he’ll certainly give it a try.
His 19-second goal for Dumbarton in last season’s William Hill Scottish Cup tie with Alloa Athletic was the latest in an impressive run of achievements for the youngster.
He’s also scored in a Stirlingshire Cup final and found the net twice in his first full season as a member of his first team squad.
Now he wants to go one better and become more of a regular in the first team this time around, starting at Dunfermline on Saturday.
He said: “I’m just aiming to build on last season. Every year I want to build on what I’ve done the year before and hopefully I can get more game time in this campaign.
“It will be good at Dunfermline on Saturday and the atmosphere will be good with them raising the league flag.
“Hopefully I can be in contention for a starting place, and if not, I can come off the bench at some point.
“I thought I did well last year. We brought in a lot of players but the team did well after Christmas and I couldn’t complain too much.
“It will be tough for us this season as the only fully part-time team in the division. The standard will be better but every year we know it will be tough.
“We’ve come through it every year and hopefully we can do that again.”
Donald’s case for a start has been boosted by a positive performance in Saturday’s Betfred Cup tie with Peterhead, where he was named man of the match.
He admitted that Sons’ four-match campaign in that competition was a disappointment, but the focus is now elsewhere.
He added: “It was a good game with lots of goals, but disappointing to draw after being 3-1 ahead. After scoring the third we thought we could go on and win it.
“The Betfred Cup has been pretty disappointing for us and it’s something we’re looking to make up for in the league.
“All the focus is now on the Championship and staying in the league has always been the main goal for Dumbarton.”
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Andy Galloway