Written by John - OTR Saturday, 21 March 1998 00:00

Our two game unbeaten run came to a halt and our dismal home record (2 home wins in League and Cup matches since November 1995) continued with this defeat by Arbroath. Only two home games to go before we reach the anniversary of our last victory at Boghead.Chris Dalrymple started again as a trialist at left back and I believe our Finnish signing, Tommi Orismaa, also listed as a trialist, was on the bench.

I don't remember much about the first half possibly because I had too much to drink after the game or because it was tediously dull. Dumbarton did force the Arbroath keeper, resplendant in a digusting all-green strip, into a good double save and we had a couple of poor shots over the bar.The bloke with poly-bags was in good form. He kept having a go at the Arbroath keeper for his obvious Celtic allegiance. Can't fault his logic, really. All-green strip = Celtic fan. Nope, no flaw in that argument.Once again, Dumbarton went behind from a corner kick. It was a bit jammy though, Spence's backwards head flick dropping in at the back post, totally unintentionally. It took Dumbarton two minutes to equalize. Lee Sharpe striking a 30 yard free kick into the top corner over a dumbfounded goalkeeper. "Gallus" is how Jim The Hippy described it later in the pub which sums it up nicely. A definite contender for goal of the season. And that was Sharp's third goal in 3 games, all from dead ball situtations.

Ten minutes after equalising the was lead was lost thank to Dumbarton's sloppy defending. The ball was worked down the right, cut across and Spence was there again to tuck it away. The Sons tried to take the game to Arbroath after that but we were not being particulary creative and our finishing was woeful. Our other trailist came on and he looked like he could add a little bit of dig to the midfield, an area that Dumbarton are lacking in. But skillwise he was probably on a par with the rest of the team, i.e. crap. So he'll probably be signed to increase further the size of the squad. This raises an interesting question; what do the players who are not in the squad do seeing as there is no reserve team ?

The day wasn't a total loss however. The club shop had just taken stock Dumbarton FC ski-hats (100% acryilic) with the club crest on them and they were selling like hotcakes. Me and Gary bought one each and proceeded to wear them on our walks between the pubs in High Street which drew a large number of strange looks from passers-by. Understandably they don't often see Dumbarton fans walking up the High Street. We even wore them while in the Cutty in an attempt to annoy Dumbarton's resident Arbroath fan, Rolf. But it didn't work so we quickly departed to have a drink elsewhere before he "gloated" us to death. It was a strange evening in the pubs, accompanied by some strange drinks. Hey, when was the last time you had Maduri and lemonode, or Aftershock, or Jaegermeister all in the same evening ? And we had a nice chat with Stevie "Gives it to you straight" Gow in the Glencairn before crawling back down the High Street to get a Indian carry-out and listen to the lassie taking the order rip the pish out of Jim The Hippy.