Tuesday 8th December 2015
THE 131st year of Scotland’s national cup competition starts this week for Sons as they enter the tournament with a home tie against fellow SPFL Championship Club Alloa Athletic.
Manager Stevie Aitken commented : “The Scottish Cup is a tournament we are keen to do well in. A home tie is always a boost and we want to get as far in the competition as we can.
“We would like to start this game the way we ended at Alloa on Saturday,” he added. “What happened then will have no bearing on this game, as the environment is different.
“We’d like a cup run, and the reward for a win tonight is another home tie,” the gaffer emphasised.
The last time both clubs met in the Scottish Cup was in season 2013/2014. Sons entered the competition in round three and progressed to the next stage by defeating Cowdenbeath 2-1 (with two goals by Jordan Kirkpatrick) while Alloa took care of Inverurie Loco Works (3-0).
Sons then travelled to Berwick and recorded a 3-1 victory (goals from Prunty, Megginson and Linton) and the Wasps enjoyed a 3-2 win against local rivals Stirling Albion.
The fifth round tie between the two clubs took place at Recreation Park in February 2014 and the game was won for Dumbarton with a good finish by Colin Nish (pic below of Nishy being congratulated his teammates).
The victory against the Wasps earned a historic quarter-final tie – our first appearance at this stage of the competition for 35 years — at Pittodrie for Dumbarton and the ‘Road to Hampden’ was blocked as Aberdeen secured a narrow 1-0 win.
Head to Head: Last four matches between Dumbarton and Alloa Ath –
Sep 5th, 2015 – SPFL Championship
Dumbarton 0 Alloa Ath 2 (Holmes, Ferns)
Apr 11th 2015 – SPFL Championship
Alloa Ath 3 (Flannigan, Cawley, Spence) Dumbarton 0
Mar 7th, 2015 – SPFL Championship
Dumbarton 1 (Fleming) Alloa Ath 0
Dec 5th 2015 – SPFL Championship
Alloa Ath 0 Dumbarton 2 (Docherty, Gallagher)
The team news is that on-loan St Johnstone midfielder Scott Brown is ineligible for the cup tie and Eamonn Brophy has ended his emergency loan spell and has returned to Hamilton Accies.
Calum Waters and Jamie Lindsay have all been given permission to play (if selected) by parent club Celtic. Steven Saunders will miss out, however.
Scott Taggart remains sidelined although is making progress from his abdominable injury and the good news is that he’s just two weeks away from being fully fit.
Alan Findlay & Simon Barrow