Written by John - OTR Wednesday, 14 October 2009 00:00

We left a bit late for this game and thought we were going to miss the start but no - as we were walking toward the turnstiles, the tannoy announced that the game would kick off at 7.45pm. It turned out that the Sons Supporters Bus had broken down en route, hence the delayed start.

The bus arrived with around 20 minutes left in the first half but the tardy fans missed precisely nothing as the the game had been absolutely dire. I counted one shot on target by Dumbarton the whole first forty five minutes.

As this was the first game I've managed to get to this season, there were a few faces I didn't recognise, some first squad and some reserves. Mick Dunlop impressed immediately as did Ben Gordon, looking more polished that when I saw him last season. Michael White, in goal, did not impress particularily as he committed the cardinal sin of goalkeeping (well in my eyes) of kicking the ball straight out the park from a punt. He then compounded this by throwing the ball straight out the park a few minutes later. I kid you not. If this game was back in the "Every game, Kenny" days I would have apoplectic.

Anyway, back to the game. First half - total crap. Second half - much better.

Sons took the lead just two minutes after the restart. I didn't see who scored, all I saw was the ball going through a defender's legs into the back of the net. Turns out it was Roddy Hunter with a header. Nice one.

After that, Sons were in control and were swarming around the Stenny penalty box like flies.

McNiff came on for the Adam Strachan in the 67th minute and one of his first actions was to clinically head the ball into the back of the net from a Stevie Murray cross. Two-nil to the Sons and we were cruising.....for a bruising.

The bruising came with 10 minutes to go. Roddy Hunter and the Stenny number 7, Love, got into a wee stramash in front of the stand side linesman, sorry, assistant referee. The wee man, Love, swung a fist at the other wee man, Hunter, and made contact. Hunter didn't really like that and pushed him back. Yeah, it like watching schoolkids fighting in the playground. But what turned the incident into farce was the referee then sent off Hunter, straight red, and Love escaped unpunished.

This happened right in front of the travelling support who were none too pleased, resulting in the Fat Bastards Security Squad being called into action to encourage the irate Sons fans back into their seats.

Having the man advantage fairly galvanised the Stenny team and for the next ten minutes they flung everything at us. They had one goal chopped off for offside, which was quite an enjoyable moment for the Sons fans, and they missed a great chance when the White squirted a shot out of his hands. 

But Sons hung on.

Comedy Moments:-
1. The late arrival of the Sons Supporters Bus
2. The Stenny goalkeeper, McCluskey, shouting "Offside, stupid" at the standside linesman, when he failed to put his flag up. It was a pretty loud shout by the goalie and the linesman definitely heard it. The final whistle went seconds later and the Stenny goalkeeper slowly skulked off to his goal to get his towel, doing his best to avoid the linesman as he headed towards the centre circle. 

Anyway, I took a few photos. But they were all shite. But here's a video of the Sons lifting the cup instead.