| Dumbarton
pushed themselves back into the all important promotion slot with a
fine 3-1 victory over in-form Elgin. Sons dominated the match
but John Wight did ensure that the few chances Elgin produced didn't
come to anything.
After braving the travel chaos in
Dumbarton East the Sons support were treated to a thrilling
victory. Fine work from the much-maligned Martin Lauchlan (who
said he should be dropped?) put Andy Brown clean through the big man
shot off-target but poacher-extraordinaire Paddy Flannery was in the
right place to blast the ball into the roof of the net.
Dumbarton 1 Elgin City 0
Just over five minutes later it was
2-0 as a punt forward flicked on by Flannery beat the Elgin offside
trap. Flannery himself had turned to run on to the ball before
being taken out but, fortunately for Sons, Martin Lauchlan was in
place to beat the out-rushing Pirie in the Elgin goal to the
ball. Lauchlan then coolly nut-megged the City number 6 before
passing the ball into the net.
Dumbarton 2 Elgin City 0
Straight from the kick-off the Elgin
number 6, still obviously angered by being made look an eejit by
Lauchlan tried to scythe down the on-loan man on the near tochline.
The lanky thug was lucky to escape with a yellow card for his efforts.
Half-Time: Dumbarton 2 Elgin City
0
After the break Paddy Flannery got
himself booked for dissent after another dubious refereeing call -
still a silly thing to get booked for and it was to prove costly
later.
Before any further drama's Mark
Crilly made-up for a first half miss when one-on-one with Ivor Pirie
in the Elgin goal when he latched on to a great pass from Flannery
which split the Elgin defence - Crilly lashed the ball home and the
game was done (or so we thought).
Dumbarton 3 Elgin City 0
On 74 minutes Paddy Flannery clipped
at a Elgin defenders heels after the ball was played away and referee
Cassidy (who had let plenty of serious fouls go unpunished, in
particular one assault on John Dillon in the Sons box by Elgin's
number 5) sent the striker packing. Again totally avoidable and
a daft thing to do but at least Flannery admitted as much after the
match:
"It was just frustration
really. I had lost the ball and in frustration aimed a kick at their
defender. It was a daft thing to do but I can have no
complaints."
Immediately after this Elgin pulled
one back from a dubious scrappy goal which Sons boss (and most of his
players) thought looked off-side as Gilzean finally bundled the ball
over the line.
Dumbarton 3 Elgin City 1
Joe Robertson followed Flannery off
as he went over on his ankle but fortunately it appears that this
injury won't keep him out of next weeks game.
Sons had a few scares before the end
and were happy to hear the final whistle and then find out that
Brechin (guaranteed promotion) had beaten Peterhead and Sons were back
in second place.
Full Time: Dumbarton 3 Elgin City
1
Well not a bad days work and while
some may say that John Wight did deserve his man of the match award
(he did pull off quite a few timely saves), Martin Lauchlan must have
been a contender for that award (as must Flannery before his red
card). Good performances from Crilly, Robertson and McKeown also
while Dillon and Brittain looked solid aswell - all in all a good team
perfromance.
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