Dumbarton & Vale of Leven Reporter | Sport

Tuesday, 6th January, 2009

Published: Tuesday, 2nd October, 2007 09:30

MONTROSE 0 DUMBARTON 1

By Gare Clyde

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Pic by: Donald Fullarton

SONS players showed a new born pride on Saturday as they picked up their first away win of the season.

If you set your sights on making friends and influencing people in football, there is no better way of achieving that popular position of pride than beating an upwardly mobile team like Montrose.

For the most recent form of the Gable Endies has been as impressive as the Taj Mahal.

In their last four matches the Links Park promotion seekers had scored an enviously impressive 14 goals with the loss of just two, and accumulated the maximum 12 points.

This was a mountain, indeed, to climb for the Sons of the stuttering start to the season. It was a severe test of their mettle and a distinct proving ground of their own promotion intentions.

And they certainly won, and earned, the plaudits at the end of the day, for there was nothing plastic about this admirably articulate success, scored with acceptable spirit on the artificial surface up in Angus on the shores of the North Sea.

Always there are doubts in football, and Gerry McCabe’s Army has created more since August than big Gordon while he mulls over an election.

There were doubts in the first half when Montrose, buoyed and beligerent following their marathon run of points gathering, tested the Dumbarton defence, which was minus chief tradesman and veteran pivot David Craig.

Disputed

There were doubts when Montrose were awarded a penalty kick in the 38th minute. It was hotly disputed by the Sons defenders but there was no going back on referee Steven McLean’s decision.

Would this be the beginning of the end for them? Would their heads go down dissatisfied with life under McLean, and the team crumble to another sorry mishap?

It was the time and the hour for a hero . . . and that hero was newly signed goalkeeper David Crawford who dived to the right to anticipate kicker John Baird’s shot and it went straight down the middle. Nevertheless the custodian’s outstretched boot saved the day.

Montrose were gutted, and the exchange of the gutsy product in the continuing play was immediately transferred to Sons whose response was immediate as they now crept into the game as a possible winning force.

Both sides had chances in a very competitive first half but the blank scoreline at half-time deemed that it was all to play for after the break.

From the outset of the second period Dumbarton were buzzing like survivors from the diminishing bee population.

Their play was spelling out the anticipation of a goal on the horizon, and it duly arrived in the 53rd minute when a cross of quality from Northern Ireland under-19 internationalist Niall Henderson was met by Robert Campbell - and the very efficient Mark Peat in the home goal had to admit defeat.

Sons went on to build on that. They had lost striker Davy McFarlane at half-time with a groin strain and Tommy Coyne had replaced him, but the Montrose card was now marked.

Uncertainty

Yet such was the uncertainty still lingering on that field of Sons dreams coming true that anything was still possible.

Andy Geggan saved Sons bacon with a goal line clearance, and then Marco Andreoni tested keeper Crawford’s sinews with a sizzling shot.

But Ryan Russell, Brian McPhee, Campbell and Coyne were equally penalised with their efforts, mainly by the adroitness of keeper Peat.

Debut keeper Crawford, apart from saving the penalty, also played a big part in the win.

It was a day when Sons finally produced a pattern of play which wrote a different story of their potential.

They had been sound in defence and active on the attack. The blend and the gelling was personified in their play.

All of a sudden, after weeks of the fans waiting, this team had become mates, and there is no doubt that togetherness won them this match which no punter would have put an old meter shilling on them to win.

They broke new horizons and standards for themselves at Montrose. They did not exactly melt the plastic pitch but they sure bust the coupons.

Is this the start of a consistent climb up the league table?

I have thought about that, and I thought of one tackle by Fergus Tiernan near the end of the match when Montrose looked like nicking a draw. I drew from that a feeling of renewed spirit and confidence in the team.

I would not dare to predict a trampoline jump out of their erstwhile withering destiny, but I do see a silver lining of hope stirring for them now that they appear to be out of the wood.

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