This week...
I have mostly been listening to...
PokerStars
PokerStrategy
On The Rocks - A Dumbarton FC Website
Written by John - OTR Sunday, 07 March 2010 15:55
Yesterday's 1-0 defeat by Brechin City leaves Dumbarton's promotion hopes in a bit of state. Sitting in 7th place with 28 points, Sons are now nine points behind 4th place Brechin who have managed to open a 6 point gap between them and 5th place.
It looks too big of gap for Sons to bridge, especially with the backlog of games that are due to played in March and April as Sons traditionally do not do well on a busy schedule.
Personally, I'd be happy with just finishing in mid-table given that it's Sons first season in the Second Division for a few years. But I'm also hoping that JIm Chapman can pull out a late season flourish just like last year.
Written by John - OTR Saturday, 16 January 2010 12:04
Another postponement.
Written by John - OTR Friday, 01 January 2010 10:42
Another unsurprising outcome.
Written by John - OTR Saturday, 19 December 2009 12:59
Frozen pitch unsurprisingly.
Written by John - OTR Wednesday, 09 December 2009 09:40
Following the disappointing Cup defeat against Morton, Dumbarton got back to league business last night against Peterhead.
A slim 1-0 win thanks to Scott Chaplain's 30th minute penalty sees the Sons leapfrog Peterhead into 5th place, only two points behind Brechin City and a potential play off place.
December is going to be an important month for Dumbarton. East Fife visit The Rock on Saturday 12th, a game Sons need to win to keep the pressure on the top teams. Tuesday the 15th will see Sons travel to Forthbank to take on second place Stirling in what should be cracking game. Another cracking game follows on Saturday 19th when third place Alloa visit the Rock. These will be crucial games for Dumbarton, which will either see us climb up into the playoff places or get stuck in the middle of the table.
Bring it on!
Written by John - OTR Monday, 30 November 2009 15:12
It's not often Dumbarton feature in the fourth round draw of the Scottish Cup. But thanks to the nil-nil draw at Morton on Saturday, our name was in the proverbial hat.
And the footballing gods have decided to award Sons or Morton a home game against the mighty Celtic of Glasgow.
Now that's an incentive. Full draw below.
Inverness Caley Thistle v Motherwell
Hamilton v Rangers
Morton or Dumbarton v Celtic
Hibernian v Irvine Meadow
St Mirren v Cowdenbeath or Alloa Athletic
Raith Rovers or Peterhead v Airdrie United
Dunfermline v Stenhousemuir or Cove Rangers
Forfar v St Johnstone
Clyde or Livingston v Dundee
Albion Rovers v Stirling Albion
Aberdeen v Hearts
Edinburgh City v Montrose
Partick Thistle v Dundee United
Ross County v Inverurie Loco Works
Ayr United v Wick Academy or Brechin
Kilmarnock v Falkirk
Ties to be played 9/10 January 2010.
Written by John - OTR Friday, 27 November 2009 10:57
Dumbarton travel across the water tomorrow to take on Greenock Morton at Cappielow in the third round of the Scottish Cup.
Morton have had a torrid time of it this season the First Division, winning 5 out of 15 league games. They have been on the end of some humpings too, 5-0 at the hands of Partick Thistle, 3-0 against Inverness Caley Thistle and another 3-0 the following week against Raith Rovers. This poor run saw manager Davie Irons being relieved of his duties in September with James Grady and Allan McManus assuming control.
This has definitely steadied the ship and Morton have won their last two games 5-0 against Raith Rovers and a 4-2 win against Airdrie.
Tomorrow will not be the first meeting between Sons and Morton this season. Morton defeated Dumbarton 1-0 at The Rock in late July in the ALBA Challenge Cup but both teams were pretty poor at this point so not too much can be read into that.
With both teams' recent improvement, it should be a good game, although history isn't exactly on Dumbarton's side with only one victory in the last ten games.
| Date | Opponents | Comp. | H/A | Score | Scorers | Att. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 05 Dec 2009 | Greenock Morton | SC | H | 0-1 | 1495 | |
| 28 Nov 2009 | Greenock Morton | SC | A | 0-0 | 1882 | |
| 26 Jul 2009 | Greenock Morton | CC | H | 0-1 | 0 | |
| 15 Aug 2006 | Greenock Morton | CC | H | 1-2 | aet. McNaught (114) | 902 |
| 28 Mar 2006 | Greenock Morton | Div2 | H | 0-4 | 1418 | |
| 02 Jan 2006 | Greenock Morton | Div2 | H | 0-2 | 0 | |
| 05 Nov 2005 | Greenock Morton | Div2 | H | 0-4 | 2818 | |
| 27 Aug 2005 | Greenock Morton | Div2 | H | 1-1 | Russell (pen) | 1574 |
| 23 Apr 2005 | Greenock Morton | Div2 | A | 0-0 | 3229 | |
| 19 Feb 2005 | Greenock Morton | Div2 | H | 3-0 | Ronald 24, Russell 42, 67 | 1446 |
Written by John - OTR Monday, 23 November 2009 12:41
Only three matches took place this weekend in the Second Division with Dumbarton's match against Peterhead being postponed due to a waterlogged pitch and the Alloa team bus getting stuck en route to Arbroath.
The big top-of-the-table clash at Forthbank between Stirling Albion and Cowdenbeath ended up a 2-2 draw Cowdenbeath scoring an injury time equaliser against 10-man Stirling.
Stenhousemuir earned a point against third place Brechin City with Kevin Motion equalising with a penalty in the 42nd minute.
I suppose that is the best outcome possible, the top three gaining one point each.
In the other match, East Fife recorded a 3-1 away win against bottom-of-the-table whipping boys Clyde after which Clyde manager John Brown resigned. The same John Brown who changed his mind about taking the Dumbarton manager's job "due to the most personal and private reasons" in November 2007. Two months later he took the Clyde job.
Thank fuck for that. Dumbarton got lucky there, methinks.
Written by John - OTR Friday, 20 November 2009 12:00
Following last week's defeat away to Cowdenbeath and the subsequent breaking of a good unbeaten run, Dumbarton host Peterhead tomorrow at the Rock.
Peterhead currently sit in 5th place, one ahead of Dumbarton. The team from the Blue Toon lost at home to Arbroath last week but had recorded wins against East Fife and league leaders Stirling Albion in their previous two.
Once again, it should be a good game between two closely matched teams but one that Sons really need to win to keep up the chase on the top 4 teams.
If results go our way and Dumbarton can win by three or four goals, then Sons could find themselves in a playoff position.
Kick off is 3pm.
| Date | Opponents | Comp. | H/A | Score | Scorers | Att. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 02 Mar 2010 | Peterhead | Div2 | A | 1-2 | Wyness 27 | 327 |
| 08 Dec 2009 | Peterhead | Div2 | H | 1-0 | Chaplain (pen 30) | 397 |
| 26 Sep 2009 | Peterhead | Div2 | A | 2-1 | Murray 77, Carcary 90 | 571 |
| 11 Mar 2006 | Peterhead | Div2 | H | 2-3 | Russell, Rodgers | 628 |
| 14 Jan 2006 | Peterhead | Div2 | H | 1-3 | Gemmell | 705 |
| 29 Oct 2005 | Peterhead | Div2 | H | 1-0 | C Boyle 87 | 0 |
| 10 Sep 2005 | Peterhead | Div2 | A | 0-1 | 494 | |
| 20 Apr 2002 | Peterhead | Div3 | H | 3-0 | Dunn 61, Brown 65, Dillon 84 | 1636 |
| 16 Feb 2002 | Peterhead | Div3 | A | 0-4 | 589 | |
| 20 Oct 2001 | Peterhead | Div3 | H | 0-3 | 715 |
Written by John - OTR Tuesday, 10 November 2009 13:20
You might have noticed a wee change in the right hand column. Just below the handy link to the retro 1970's Dumbarton football strip as sold by TOFFS, there a couple of T Shirts designed by me!
I've knocked up a couple of Dumbarton FC inspired designs and used the fantastic facility provided by zazzle.co.uk to make these designs available on a variety of products.
The panel just shows the T Shirts, but you can customise these products to your heart's content.
I've got some more designs in the pipeline.
Written by John - OTR Saturday, 07 November 2009 18:21
Damn, I missed this game as I was on call. It sounds like it was an easy win for the Sons.
After a scoreless first half, Roddy Hunter got the Dumbarton's first goal in the 49th minute. Scott Chaplain got his fourth league goal in the 64th minute with Ross O'Donoghue scoring the Sons' third in the 89th minute.
The win sees Dumbarton remain in 6th place but the division is getting tight at the top.
Written by John - OTR Saturday, 31 October 2009 17:14
Sons climbed one place to 6th and extended their unbeaten run to 5 games following today's nil-nil draw with high-flying Brechin City.
Looks like Chapman has indeed turned the corner and has got his donkeys playing the way he wants.
Onwards and upwards!
Written by Administrator Friday, 30 October 2009 11:21
After Sons first home win of the season last week, Brechin City are the visitors to The Rock tomorrow.
Brechin are flying high at the moment, sitting in second place in the division and have won 6 of their 11 league games so far.
However, their away from isn't great, winning 1, drawing 1 and losing 4. But that's still better than Dumbarton's home form!
It's going to be another tough game for the Sons.
| Date | Opponents | Comp. | H/A | Score | Scorers | Att. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 06 Mar 2010 | Brechin City | Div2 | H | 0-1 | 751 | |
| 31 Oct 2009 | Brechin City | Div2 | H | 0-0 | 687 | |
| 29 Aug 2009 | Brechin City | Div2 | A | 1-3 | Dunlop 26 | 470 |
| 09 Apr 2005 | Brechin City | Div2 | H | 1-1 | Dillon 53 | 773 |
| 01 Mar 2005 | Brechin City | Div2 | H | 1-1 | McEwan 21 (pen) | 554 |
| 12 Feb 2005 | Brechin City | Div2 | A | 2-0 | Annand 20, McKinstry 36 | 595 |
| 02 Oct 2004 | Brechin City | Div2 | A | 0-4 | 503 | |
| 03 May 2003 | Brechin City | Div2 | A | 1-1 | Obidele 40 | 895 |
| 11 Mar 2003 | Brechin City | Div2 | H | 1-3 | Flannery 25 pen | 480 |
| 29 Oct 2002 | Brechin City | Div2 | A | 1-1 | T Brown 29 | 377 |
Written by John - OTR Tuesday, 20 October 2009 22:26
It's been a while since I've been to Alloa and as soon as we arrived we could tell things had changed. The most obvious was the Andy Scott sculpture that floats above the roundabout as you enter Alloa from the East. Here's a picture of it taken from Paradosas' Flickr page.
Next most obvious was the massive Morrison's monstrosity that's just across the road from Recreation Park.
But the change that really struck home for me was that Alloa Athletic's far side ash-and-sleepers terracing is gone, replaced by a modern yet totally soul-less little plastic stand. It's quite sad seeing these historic pieces of football grounds gradually vanish.
One thing that hasn't changed at Alloa, though, is the quality of the pies. I had two just as the game was starting and they were fantastic. Surprisingly spicy.
On to the game. Nothing much happened in the first 15 minutes although I was able to discern that the Alloa goalie, David Crawford, has got one hell of a foul mouth and possibly anger-control issues. This was proved when Sons Scott Chaplain managed to get through one-on-one against Crawford. Crawford saved well but the ball rebounded out to Andy Geggan at the edge of the box who sweetly struck the ball with the outside of his right foot into the net, squeezing it by an Alloa defender who had retreated back to the goal line. Mr Crawford was none too happy, let me tell you.
Alloa equalised just before half time following a poor piece of goalkeeping from Jan Vojáček. Alloa had launched a free kick into the Dumbarton goal. Vojáček came for it but could only punch or parry the ball straight up. In the inevitable jostling, the ball popped out to an Alloa player who thrashed into the back of the net.
But fear not, your new Super Sons scored a second just before half time when Alan Cook got on the end of a Chris Craig cross and slammed it past Crawford. Again, Mr Crawford was not a happy bunny.
Alloa Athletic raised their game in the second half but Sons defended stoutly and seemed in control. I don't think there were many fans in the ground who thought that 2-1 was a safe scoreline so it was a relief when Sons extended their lead in the 63rd minute. Chris Craig was released on the right hand side and sent in a low cross to the near post. Scott Chaplain then nipped in between the keeper and a defender to poke the ball home.
Alloa brought on ex-Son Iain Russell in an attempt to get back into the game. He certainly did his bit, getting on the end of some good balls and generally causing mischief in the Dumbarton half. But apart from one save from Vojáček, Alloa were having trouble getting anything on target. And when they were pressing Sons were able to create a couple of breakaway chances which, unfortunately, they couldn't convert either.
So the game finished 3-1 to the Sons. A solid performance by Dumbarton, which should give the team lots of confidence for the future.
Page 1 of 7
Feeds
Retro Strips
Vintage 1970s Sons Strip as worn by Kenny Wilson, Colin McAdam, Charlie Gallagher, et al.
available from TOFFS
T-Shirts