Written by John - OTR Saturday, 07 August 1999 00:00

Ahh, there's something about your first game of the season. I was looking forward to it all morning. Met up with Gary and Graeme in the Hogshead before heading to Coatbridge. Had a quick short in the The Vulcan, which is a great name for a pub, before heading down to Cliftonhill.

Dumbarton scored first with less than a minute on the clock. Unfortunately, I didn't see the goal as I was handing over my DISA money to Paul MacDonald, but it appeared that Billy Melvin struck a shot from around the penalty spot and it went in. A great start.

Craig Brittain didn't have the brightest of starts but was soon tackling like a terrier in his usual manner and broke up a couple of Rovers attacks. I thought the defence was looking slight shaky and Rovers' equalizer was like watching the Sons two seasons ago. The ball was flighted over from the byeline. Dumbarton seemed to have plenty of chances to clear it but missed them all. Eventually, the ball fell to ex-Dumbarton donkey Graham Duncan, who made no mistake from about six yards.

Joe Robertson was having a great game and was a key player in the second goal which came after 38 minutes. Joe played a couple of 1-2s before giving the ball to that man Melvin who slotted it away in a similar fashion to his first.

Dumbarton dominated the second half but didn't have many clear cut opportunities and the ones that did present themselves, the Rovers keeper managed to save. With the score at 2-1, Dumbarton really needed another to secure the points and that came courtesy of Toby King who scored on the volley, I think, from a corner with 5 minutes to go.

Team:- Meechan, Dickie, Brittain, Bruce, Jack, King, Melvin B, Grace, Flannery, Brown, Robertson. Subs:- Ward, McHarg, Dillon

Other highlights:- Me and Gary keeping a running score of Alec Grace's mistakes and successes. Alec is not one of Gary's favourites and Gary was most upset at Grace's performance against Brechin. In the end, it was 12-9 in favour of Alec.

Pubs visited:- The Hogshead in Glasgow. The Vulcan, Big Owen's and The Mint in Coatbridge. The Mint was the nicest one of the day, but the Hogshead and The Vulcan had good food.