Written by John - OTR Saturday, 27 November 1999 00:00

It's amazing how one incident can change the nature of a football match. Until the 57th minute, Dumbarton were cruising in this game, leading 3-0 and playing some lovely, confident football.

Dumbarton's first goal came in the first minute and, thanks to the local constabulary deciding to reinstate the traffic cones along Round Riding Road, me, Jim The Hippy and Joe missed it. But we were reliably informed that Joe Robertson coolly put it away following a spill from the keeper. Dave Stewart got the second in the 10th with a header and Paddy Flannery scored a beauty in the 53rd minute, superbly controlling a Craig Brittain cross before smashing it into the top corner from 12 yards.

The turning point was Alec Grace's sending off. He was given a longish pass which he slightly mis-controlled. The ball ran a bit too far forward and he put in a robust challenge with a Forfar defender to retrieve it. The challenge was a overly robust in the eyes of the referee and Grace headed for an early bath. After this Dumbarton fell apart and Forfar swarmed all the midfield and penalty areas. None of their goals came as a surprise and if anything they were unlucky not to come away with all three points.