Recap

Dumbarton suffered a catastrophic 6-0 defeat at Galabank against Annan Athletic in the first-leg of their cinch League One play-off semi-final.

Three goals in either half have all but confirmed the home sides place in the final against either East Fife or Clyde.

Tommy Goss headed in the opener for Annan after just seven minutes with another number of dangerous crosses flashing across the Sons six-yard box.

Dumbarton’s brightest moment arrived on a quarter of an hour when Finlay Gray drove forward and into the Annan penalty box but poked a shot off the post.

Kalvin Orsi met the rebound but that was blocked and despite Sons asking the question of a handball from a home defender, referee Calum Scott was unmoved.

That was about as good it got for Stevie Farrell’s side as the hosts relentless pressure continued with Aidan Smith denied by Brett Long twice in the space of a minute as he scrambled across his line to clear away one shot and pushed away another that was goalbound.

It was perhaps no surprise then when Max Kilsby headed in Annan’s second midway through the half with Gregg Wylde replaced by Stuart Carswell as Farrell looked for a way back into the tie.

Any hopes of that seemed even further away on 27 minutes when Orsi was shown a straight red card for Dumbarton after an incident with Kilsby as the Annan man looked to shepherd the ball out of play.

Long made another couple of saves before the break but Tommy Muir got the better of him on 38 minutes when he directed Reece Lyon’s header towards goal past the Sons shotstopper.

Dumbarton trailed Annan 3-0 at the interval only a month before with Long on that day also doing his best to keep his side in it and this first-leg tie felt all too familiar.

The second-half provided very much more of the same as Smith should have added number four when he had only Long to beat but fired the ball over from ten-yards.

Smith finally got the better of the Dumbarton number one just after the hour when he was on hand to tap home after Long denied Muir.

The away side had a couple of opportunities to get themselves back into the tie but Greg Fleming raced off his line quickly to block from Russell McLean and Declan Byrne looped a header over.

Dominic Docherty brought a flowing Annan move to an end on 82 minutes with goal number five and Benjamin Luissint slammed home six on 87 minutes.