Dumbarton battled to a well-earned point in a physical match at Stark’s Park against Raith Rovers, which ended goalless, writes Jack Crawford.

An inspired performance from Jamie Ewings, who was starting his first game in over a year, helped Sons hold on for their draw.

Ewings was in for Mark Brown, who was out with a virus while Tom Walsh also came in for his Dumbarton debut after joining on loan from Rangers.

Before kick off, there was a minutes’ applause in memory of Dumbarton chief executive Gilbert Lawrie who passed away this past week.

The game started quietly, although Walsh excited Sons fans early on with the directness and creativity they have been crying out for in the last couple of games.

Raith then woke up, as James Craigen sliced the ball wide from inside the box and Ewings was called into action to deny Mark Stewart with his legs.

Craigen came closer a couple of minutes later, but his shot from range clipped the crossbar.

Dumbarton, however, arguably came just as close a couple of minutes before the break when Frazer Wright had a header cleared off the line.

After a scramble in the box, the ball then made its way out to the same man who drilled the ball wide.

Kevin Cawley had a similar effort soon after, but the outcome was identical.

The first half petered out, but Raith came out straight out of the blocks in the second period.

After Ross Callachan drilled a shot over the bar from long range, Sons were very fortunate not to concede.

When Wright misjudged a long ball, it looked as if there would only be one outcome as Aidan Connolly bared down on goal.

He cut the ball back for Stewart, but the Raith frontman mistimed his shot.

The ball ended up with Longridge at the back post, who had two efforts heroically cleared off the line by the recovering Wright.

Raith then hit the side netting through Iain Davidson, but Sons were doing well to frustrate their opponents.

Walsh, who had faded out of the game since his bright start, then had a decent chance as Dumbarton caught the hosts on the break.

He cut in from the left but shot straight at Kevin Cuthbert.

As the clock ticked down, there was still time for Ewings to be called into action on a couple of occasions.

The ‘keeper was showing no signs of a lack of match sharpness as he pushed a long-range free kick from Callachan over the bar, and, along with a bit of help from Mark Docherty, cleared one off the line.

Dumbarton managed to hold on for a well-deserved point and go into next week’s crucial game with Livingston on the back of a couple of good results.

Raith Rovers: Cuthbert, Callachan, Benedictus, Stewart, Davidson, Connolly (Megginson, 78), Longridge, Bates, McKeown, Craigen (Anderson, 65), Robertson.

Subs: Law, Petrie, McCord, Matthews, Court. Booked: Longridge, Davidson, Callachan.

Dumbarton: Ewings; Docherty, Saunders, Buchanan, Cawley (Taggart, 72), Gallagher, Fleming (McCallum 90), Routledge, Lindsay, Wright, Walsh (Kirkpatrick 83).

Subs: Brown, Waters, Hopkins.

Referee: Stephen Finnie.

Attendance: 1,397