Recap

Dumbarton issued a statement victory over Stenhousemuir to make it back-to-back victories in cinch League Two.

Sons raced into a 4-0 half-time lead thanks to a brace from Ross MacLean whilst Jinky Hilton and Sean Crighton scored their first goals for the club.

A Matty Aitken double after the break and a red card for Carlo Pignatiello took some shine off an otherwise faultless away performance from Stevie Farrell’s side.

Hilton and Blair Malcolm were rewarded with starts after their cameos the previous weekend against Forfar Athletic turned things around in Dumbarton’s favour.

Despite taking a commanding lead into the break, the visitors had to stand up tall defensively in the opening quarter of an hour at Ochilview.

Brett Long was called into action after less than 60 seconds, but Aitken’s low shot was a comfortable take for the Northern Irishman.

A succession of corners for the home side also threatened to trouble the Sons defence as Nat Wedderburn met a delivery at the back post but couldn’t head his effort on target.

One of Dumbarton’s first forays up the park resulted in the opening goal of the afternoon on 14 minutes – a quick corner was played to Hilton, he threatened to pass the ball back to Greig Young who had taken the set piece but instead dinked in a cross that Crighton glanced into the net to score against the side he had left in the summer.

The lead could have been doubled only a couple of minutes later when MacLean capitalised on hesitation from shotstopper Darren Jamieson and advanced towards goal, but his outside of the foot effort hit the side netting when a pass to teammate Hilton may have been the better option.

Faz stated after the draw with Spartans a fortnight prior that a team was due to be on the wrong end of a heavy score line against Sons and the longer the first-half went on, it seemed as if Saturday may be that day.

The visitors were passing and gliding their way through the Warriors defence with David Wilson coming close on a couple of occasions as he diverted a low cross from Pignatiello just wide and shot straight at Jamieson a couple of minutes later.

It was only a matter of time until Dumbarton added to their lead and they did that with a quick-fire double on the half-hour.

First, Young done superbly well on the left-hand side with a quick turn followed by a nutmeg on Ross Meechan allowed him to drive into space before clipping in a cross that was met a powerful Hilton volley.

It turned out to be too hot for Jamieson to handle and MacLean was on hand to fire the loose ball into the net.

Barely 60 seconds later ‘Chuckie’ had his second and Dumbarton’s third – he pestered Warriors defender Nicky Jamieson into an error and raced towards goal before slotting the ball past Jamieson at his near post.

Despite all of Sons domination, Ross Taylor was proving to be a threat for the home side on the break and he nearly pulled one back when he cut in from right-to-left and shot for goal but Long pushed away his shot and despite Euan O’Reilly tucking the rebound into the net, he did so from an offside position.

The hosts hadn’t conceded a goal in the league all season but Sons made it four before the break when Pignatiello bullied Kinlay Bilham to win the ball before cutting back for Hilton to slide home.

The away support weren’t quite sure what they were seeing as the visitors led by four goals to nil at the interval for the first time since 2011.

The second period nearly started the way that the first ended as MacLean was inches away from completing his hat-trick but couldn’t quite get on the end of Wilson’s low shot across goal.

The home side pulled one back 10 minutes after the break when the dangerous Taylor was tripped by Aron Lynas, which presented Aitken with the opportunity to score from 12-yards and he did so by sending Long the wrong way.

Sons nearly restored the four-goal cushion just before the hour when Tony Wallace headed a powerful effort towards goal but it was well tipped over by Jamieson.

Farrell seemed content for his side to sit on their lead, safe in the knowledge that the game was all but won, but came close to adding to the score line again on 76 minutes when substitute Declan Byrne charged down a kick from Jamieson that looped up in the air and was collected by the Warriors number one.

With a little less than ten minutes to go, Dumbarton would see out the rest of the game a man short after Pignatiello was harshly sent off by referee Duncan Williams for nudging the ball inches away from his opposition man and he was shown a second yellow card.

Crighton and Mark Durnan had to be on top of their game in the final few moments with a couple of brave blocks and headers keeping the hosts from making things interesting.

That was until the 96^th minute when Taylor burst away down the right and crossed for Aitken to fire into the net from a few yards out.

The result seen Dumbarton move to the top of cinch League Two after four matchdays with the visit of Forfar Athletic next on the agenda.