On The Rocks - A Dumbarton FC Website

Written by Administrator Saturday, 17 October 2009 09:48

I gave live-tweeting a go for the Shire Cup Final and I'm going to try it again today away at Alloa.

Follow @SwingSwingSwing or check out the updates in the left side column.

Written by John - OTR Tuesday, 13 October 2009 21:31

Dumbarton beat Stenhousemuir 2-0 in the final of the Stirlingshire FA Cup tonight at Ochilview.

I'll write some more tomorrow. But in summary:-

Dire first half. Sons much better in second. Two nice goals. Terrrible red card for Man of Match Roddy Hunter.

Written by John - OTR Monday, 12 October 2009 11:04

So farewell then to goalkeeper Mark McGeown who has left the club "by mutual consent" which basically means that he's probably not going to get a game.

I only saw him a couple of times last season and he seemed OK.

Good luck to him in the future.

Written by John - OTR Monday, 12 October 2009 11:13

So, Sons get their second league win of the season away to East Fife with Denis McLaughlin scoring in the second half. Keeping on the "second" theme, it was our second win of the season and our second clean sheet. And we're still second bottom.

With Clyde winning too, the division is starting to close up meaning that Sons are currently only 3 points away from mid table mediocrity, a position I will gladly take at the end of the season.

Next up:- Away to  Stenhousemuir on Tuesday for the Stirlingshire Cup Final.

Written by John - OTR Tuesday, 06 October 2009 15:42

Argggghhh!

Sons came close on Saturday to defeating the league leaders, Stirling Albion. Dumbarton took the lead twice but Stirling Albion twice equalised before scoring a last minute winner.

I suppose this has to be look at as progress. Earlier on in the season, we would have been lucky to get the ball in the back of the net at all.

Next up is a tough away game at East Fife who are currently in 5th place in the division.

Written by John - OTR Monday, 14 September 2009 12:04

One penalty save.

One goalie sent off.

One point earned.

One place off bottom.

That'll do.

But things are going to have to start improving real soon....starting next Saturday against Cowdenbeath.

Written by John - OTR Friday, 11 September 2009 09:48

Tomorrow Stenhousemuir visit The Rock for the first time this season.

Last season, The Warriors scraped into the Division 3 playoffs finishing in fourth place, 7 points behind second place Cowdenbeath. But they battled their way into the playoff final and beat Cowdenbeath on penalties to secure promotion (although Cowdenbeath were also promoted following the problems with Livingston.)

Stenny have coped better with the transition to the Second Division than the Sons or Cowdenbeath. They drew their first three league games and secured their first win last week against Arbroath leaving them in 4th place in the division.

Matches against Stenny are usually tough affairs and I don't see tomorrow being any different.

Here's Sons recent results against Stenhousemuir.

Written by John - OTR Monday, 31 August 2009 12:23

A couple of weeks ago, the Club announced details of the new "third" strip. The strip is meant to be a throwback, nay, a homage, to the mainly white strips of the 70s, which are vey popular with the fans. I, personally, love the white strips. My favourite DFC strip was the away top of the 1986/87 season, my first season following the Sons. It was white with a black and gold flash on the right shoulder. Pure class. Although when I picture it in my mind, it's always being worn by the slightly overweight Peter Houston against Partick Thistle at a wet and windy midweek Firhill, which sort of ruins it a bit.

Getting back on topic, here's a picture of the strip.

I don't like it.

For one, I'm against the whole idea of producing a third strip. Is it going to be worn on the pitch by the players? Doubt it. It's basically a device to fleece the fans of more money. Just like when season ticket holders had to start paying for Cup games.

Secondly, the Ballantines logo plastered on the front absolutely ruins it. It totally destroys the diagonal flow of the black and gold stripe. I wouldn't have minded as much if the Ballantines logo blended in so that it sat on top of the diagonal strip but didn't obscure it. Now what they should have done is follow what Man City did with their away strip. They've put a smaller version of the sponsor's logo, ETIHAD (national airline of the UAE apparently), under the club crest on the left breast. Diagonal stripe is still intact, looks fantastic. 

So, please don't buy me the third strip for my Christmas. Don't.

Of course, if you do want a piece of Dumbarton nostalgia or enjoy the white strips as much as I do, what you want is one of the TOFFS circa 1973ish replica jersies. White with a black and gold chest hoop.

Top notch.

Available from The Old Fashioned Football Shirt company.

*EDIT* - TOFFS have a 10% off discount voucher (for orders over £25). Just enter toffs10 at the checkout. It's valid until September 8th.

Written by John - OTR Sunday, 30 August 2009 13:01

I've resurrected some of the match reports from previous versions of On The Rocks.

Reports from seasons 1997/1998, 2001/2002, 2002/2003 are available and you can get to them via the Archives link.

Written by John - OTR Sunday, 30 August 2009 10:33

Oh well. Still bottom of the table.

Being on call (and lazy) I didn't get to the game but Jack Deighton has a nice little match report. Seems like Sons were a bit unlucky.

Good to see that Denis McLaughlin has made his loan spell permanent and signed a one year deal with the club.

The signing of Czech goalkeeper Jan Vojáček is interesting. It appears that SK Sigma Olomouc held his registration, but he had been loaned out to second division team FC Vysocina in Jihlava for most of last season (2008/2009), playing 25 games, conceding 23 goals. In 2007/2008 he did play 18 times for Sigma.

He seems like a bright lad, getting his a degree in General Medicine while playing with third Division FC UNEX Unicov. But he's putting his medical career on hold while he persues his ambition to play football full time.

Hmmm, he's going to have to put in some outstanding perfomances to get himself noticed elsewhere. Good luck to the lad.