| The
long awaited new season kicked off for Sons at Ochilview in
Stenhousemuir as we faced up to life in Division Two.
Most Sons fans were surprised to see
the clubs top goalscorer, Paddy Flannery, start the season on the
bench with the new look strikeforce of the Brown brothers (!) up front
- perhaps Flannery had a niggling injury.
David Winnie also selected what
looked like a make-shift midfield (Bonar, Dillon, McCann and
Robertson) - as Mark Crilly, Craig Brittain and Martin O'Neil were
injured.
At the back Sons had what looked like
the strongest defence they have fielded for some time and it was the
only major plus point in a performance that must have had the new boss
tearing his hair out and looking for a strip for himself.
To be honest Sons were poor
today. The midfield appeared to have a nightmare which meant our
only attacking options were long balls to Bomber and Tom Brown.
Stenny were also pretty poor but were
still miles ahead of Sons. In an extremely dull first half the only
real chance fell to Stenhousemuir as they rattled the post from a
corner - nothing much else happened apart from a few bookings.
Half-Time: Stenhousemuir 0 Dumbarton 0
The second half started with
Dumbarton enjoying their best spell of the match and what
happened? The Warriors went up the park and took the lead.
Sloppy marking allowed a free header
at the back post which seemed to hit off Mark Booth and into John
Wight's net.
As fans called for David Winnie to
change things (in particular the midfield) - a shock decision saw
Bomber being taken off and replaced by Flannery - with no service for
big Andy he had no real chances to capitalise on - neither would
Flannery with this line-up.
Just over ten minutes later it was
2-0 as Sons conceded a penalty which was dispatched by Booth into the
top right corner giving Wighty no chance.
Craig Lynes then came on to replace
Tom Brown as Sons still continued to struggle in the middle of the
park.
With the game going nowhere Sons were
handed a huge slice of luck. A hopeful punt into the box saw
THREE Stenny defenders and the keeper leave it for each other while
Stevie Bonar nicked in and glanced a header past the stranded
Warriors.
With the time running out John
McVeigh applied his usual spoiling tactics of sending men into
corners and having ballboys ignore the ball (I think it's call
gamesmanship - but in the first game of the season...)
Fortunatelty for Sons this fired them
up and with the introduction of John McKeown as a third target man
(yes John McKeown our 6'4'' central defender) Sons went for the
equaliser.
In the 90th minute we were rewarded
as after a stramash in the box the ball fell for you know who... Paddy
Flannery who slipped it into the net to send the large travelling
support wild.
Flannery proceeded to celebrate with
a Klinsman dive then spotting the Sons support behind the goal jumped
on top of a couple of Sons fans - followed by half the team.
Unfortunately I was on the bottom of the pile of the Sons supporters
and was almost crushed - I'll let you off Paddy as you weren't to
blame - it was that bugger Craig Lynes flying in on top of the lot of
us who knocked me all over the place.
Well a good comeback and a good laugh
- but unfortunately not a good overall performance - David Winnie had
a hard time today with team selections especially in the middle of the
park but one or two of those players will certainly have given the new
boss something to think about.
A points a point though - I'm away to
put some more ice on my almost broken nose - and Paddy I'll send you
the bill for the contact lens you knocked out of my eye in your
celebrations.
Full-Time: Stenhousemuir 2 Dumbarton
2
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