Former Sons striker Christian Nade took time out from his new coaching role to talk about his time at the Rock.
He spoke about signing for Dumbarton the first time around and how it came about.
“My time at Hamilton was okay, but the coach didn’t start me, he always had me on the bench and would only put me in at half time, for 25 minutes or something like that,” he explained.
“The coach at the time [Stevie Aitken] told me he wanted me, to build the team around me, and asked me if I would come and sign for Dumbarton, and I was like yeah, let’s get started!
Breaking Hibee’ Hearts
During his first spell at the club in the 2015/16 Championship season, he endeared himself to the support with seven goals in 12 league matches.
The first of which came in a memorable 3-2 win over Hibernian in February, in which he scored.
As a former Hearts striker, it was a moment he would cherish, celebrating wildly and holding up five fingers on one hand and one on another, referencing the Jambos Scottish Cup win four years prior over their Edinburgh rivals.
“It is one of my biggest memories with Dumbarton, and to have scored, as an ex-Hearts player but also the added motivation as to score against them for Dumbarton, helped to save us.
“[Hibs] was a good team to play against, and it was also really good because nobody could see us winning!”
He scored the second Sons goal on that day and spoke about the game slowing down as the ball came to him.
Nade rose above Hibs’ keeper Mark Oxley to meet a cross from our current assistant manager, Mark Docherty, to head home.
“I knew that the cross was coming. Everything went in slow motion,” he explained.
“You could see it happening. I saw the way [Oxley] pushed off his goal line.
“I saw all of this. I was just happy. It was really good and I was so happy.”
He departed the Rock at the end of the season but would return the following January.
Return to the Rock
“It was very difficult to go part-time; at the end of the first season, we just could not match on an offer.
“But things just didn’t work out and when I had the chance to come back, I was delighted to.”
He was part of the side who reached the Irn-Bru Cup final, helping the club defeat The New Saints on that famous night in Wales.
The final however, is a sore spot for Nade, who missed out due to injury.
“It is difficult for me to speak about because I didn’t get to play in the final,” he revealed.
“But that night as players we weren’t playing for ourselves, it was for the fans.
“It was nothing to do with individuality. It was a whole thing for the fans.
“I don’t know how to express that. It did mean a lot. I think that’s the game where I think I hurt myself but carried on.
“At some point in the game I was playing right back. I was running everywhere. I wanted the fans to be proud of how we played. I wanted the fans to be happy that they had seen us go through.
“We were not playing for us. We were playing for the town, for the club, for the fans, for everybody.”
On his favourite teammate from his time at the Rock, he singled out the match winner in Wales; Dimitris Froxylias.
“I think it was someone I was doing. It was Dimitris. He was a good guy,” he said.
“He was close to me.”
Life after the Sons
He also revealed that when he heard about the club’s issues a couple of years ago he wanted to get fit again and return to the club in their hour of need.
“My dream was to play for Dumbarton again, it was my dream then to get myself fit, so say goodbye to the fans, to show how much they mean to me, how much I appreciate them.
“I was just getting too old to have played helped the team at that time.”
Nade, now retired after an extended Indian summer in the West of Scotland league, runs his own one-to-one training academy, ‘CNC Coaching.’
Running summer camps aiming to give young players a true taste of life and training at a professional standard with advice from Nade himself.
Read more in this week’s Lennox Herald.