On The Rocks - A Dumbarton FC Website

Written by John - OTR Monday, 10 August 2009 14:00

So, now that OTR is back, I'd better post some content.

League Reconstruction

Fucking jammie bastarding Cowdenbeath bastards. That's all I have to say on the matter.

The transfer market.

The usual donkeys out, donkeys in. Although one of our new, younger, fitter donkeys seems to have gone in the huff with our Chief Ass Kicker, Mr Chapman. Will we ever see Darren Gribben again?

The Pre Season

Pretty disastrous, eh? Including the Alba Cup, the Co-op Insurance Cup and the Stirlingshire Cup the record was P9 W2 L7 with the two victories being in the 'Shire Cup on penalties. To be fair, the majority of teams we played against were in higher divisions so perhaps it was to be expected. It's probably all part of Mr Chapman's Master Plan, you know the one that has us dicking around for most of the season experimenting with various exotic formations before realising that we play best in the good, old fashioned 4-4-2 formation, then storming up the league to win with one match to go.

The Season

Not a great start, losing 3-1 at home to the mighty Alloa Athletic. Before the season started, I'd look at the League Division 2 table on the BBC website, see Dumbarton sitting in mid position with zero points, the same as everyone else, and say to myself, "I'll have some of that". Mid table finish - a nice, realistic target. 

Aye right.

Written by John - OTR Monday, 10 August 2009 09:10

After some structural work and a fresh lick of paint, On The Rocks has a new look.

The previous version of On The Rocks was built on Joomla 1.0.x, the immensely popular content management system. A few years ago, I had spent a whole lot of time migrating all the behind-the-scenes database code of the into a Joomla component and then pu the whole site into Joomla. And then I left it. Didn't do diddly-squat with it. Na-da. Nothing. Didn't even get to round to putting all the old match reports up, not even the "Every game, Kenny" ones.

Time passed. Joomla went up to version 1.5 but OTR stayed on 1.0.x. More and more security holes were found in 1.0.x but I didn't get off my arse. Finally, with Joomla 1.0.x reaching its official end-of-life I began to rewrite the OTR component for Joomla 1.5. 

It was a bigger job than I expected - much bigger. Why is why the new site didn't go up until last night. But it's live now. There is still quite a bit to do but it will get done. Maybe!

Written by Administrator Monday, 04 May 2009 16:28

So barring a very unlikey scoring fest by East Stirlingshire on Saturday, Sons have won the Division Three title.

You have to hand it Jim Chapman here, he eventually found the winning formula and it paid off with a fantastic finishing sequence, including breaking the club record for minutes without conceding a goal.

I must be honest here - I didn't think Sons would do it. In fact, at the start of the year I thought a play-off place would be unlikely. I'd had the misfortune of watching a turgid 1-1 draw at Stenhousemuir followed the week after by the 5-2 hammering by East Stirlingshire. We were so poor in that game and so thoroughly taken apart by the Shire that promotion seemed like a pipe dream.

After New Year, I was at another defeat by East Stirlingshire, this time by three goals to one, although to be fair, it was a much closer contest and the 'Shire were helped by an exceptionally soft penalty in the second half. Still, I didn't get that promotion feeling.

Victories against Albion Rovers and Elgin got March off to a good start but defeats by Montrose and Annan and a draw against Albion Rovers, again cast doubt over the team's promotion credentials.

At the start of April, I saw a Sons victory against Stenhousemuir who were at that point in freefall. It was not a convincing performance but it was a victory and a play-off place was now looking good. This was the second 2-0 win in the space of week and was the start of what could be called the promotion run. Sons beat Forfar and Berwick before being held to a 0-0 draw against the then leaders Cowdenbeath in a game that saw Cowden's normal attendance figure trebled with a vast travelling Sons support. If we had won that game we would have taken over at the top of the table but we knew now that a playoff place was guaranteed.

The following week, Sons did make it to the top after Montrose came from behind to beat Cowden and Sons thrashed Forfar 4-0.

And then we come to last Saturday. I couldn't make it to the game but was glued to the Sky Sports videprinter. Forfar had managed to put two past Cowdenbeath in the first 5 minutes which was just phenomenal. Unfortunately, Cowden managed to get the score level by half time as Dumbarton were cruising to victory against Elgin and the 'Shire were ahead against Albion Rovers. The Cowden-Forfar game finished level and both Sons and the 'Shire won meaning that barring the unlikely huge defeat/huge win scenario, Dumbarton cannot be overtaken with one game to go.

Congratulations to the team, the manager and all connected with the club. Roll on next season.

What would really finish of the season on a high would be Queen's Park staying up, meaning that John Gemmell and Andy Rogers would stay in Division Three. That would be just fantastic. Failing that Stenhousemuir going up would be OK, as Gemmell and Rogers would still be the Third and it gives me another local away game to go to.

Written by Administrator Friday, 27 February 2009 13:03

Tomorrow, I'll be making it along to Ochilview to see the high-flying Sons play the even higher-flying East Stirlingshire.

The fact that Sons are still in contention in the league is something of a mystery to me. The last game I saw, way back in November, was against The Shire and Sons were on the receiving of an unbelievable 5-2 drubbing. Sons were absolutely shocking in that game and the match the previous week against Stenhousemuir. Any yet, we're still in there, sitting in fourth place, the last playoff position. The manager is obviously doing something right just not when I'm around.

Maybe I shouldn't tell him I'm coming!