Lee Miller leapt off the bench to score a late winner to consign Dumbarton to a 1-0 defeat at Falkirk last Saturday.

The 33-year-old striker tapped in Luke Leahy’s 86th-minute cross after a brave defensive performance from the Sons.

Despite the visitors spending large parts of the game defending, they looked to take a valuable point against last year’s runners-up, with the players exhausted after being stretched across the large pitch at the Falkirk Stadium.

But the first chance of the game fell to Dumbarton. Danny Rogers, the Bairns ‘keeper on loan from Aberdeen, spilled Ryan Stevenson’s cross.

Robert Thomson was on hand to poke in the loose ball, but Luca Gasparotto was alert to the danger and made a goal-line clearance.

Thomson saw another effort go over after 15 minutes, and then the hosts began to dominate.

Peter Houston’s men, who have made a stuttering start to this year’s campaign, began to spread the ball around and use the width of the pitch.

And they were denied two great chances thanks to Alan Martin, with the former Hamilton shot-stopper on hand with reaction stops to deny David McCracken and Myles Hippolyte an opener.

The home side looked to test the Sons down the wings, with Englishman Hippolyte terrorising Craig Pettigrew for most of the half.

That forced a tactical switch from Sons boss Stevie Aitken, with David Smith and Josh Todd swapping wings and former Bairn Smith looking to help out his right-back more with defensive duties.

After the break both teams had glorious chances to score in under a minute.

Dumbarton countered when Stevenson’s flick-on fell to Thomson, and Todd latched on to his through-ball, but the winger was unable to fire past the keeper, forcing Rogers to make a good stop.

The Bairns then raced up the other end, and worked the ball to Tom Taiwo but the player fired his shot well over and wide from the edge of the box.

As the hosts continued to lay siege to the Dumbarton box, Aitken looked to shut up shop early bringing on Darren Barr for his first minutes of the league season for Stevenson.

But minutes later the Dumbarton fortress finally crumbled, Leahy’s drilled cross evaded all of the Sons’ defenders and landed at Miller’s feet to tap into the back of the net, with little Martin could do to keep the ball clear.

Dumbarton play Stranraer next in the Challenge Cup at Stair Park next week, before hosting promotion favourites Hibernian at the CID Stadium on Saturday, September 10.

Tickets are on sale and season ticket holders can start collecting their match tickets in exchange for a voucher in their ST book.

FALKIRK: Rogers, Kidd (Muirhead, 90), Leahy, McCracken, Taiwo (Craigen, 63), Kerr, Baird (Miller, 71), Sibbald, Hippolyte, Gasparotto, McHugh Subs not used: Mehmet, Rankin, Shepherd, Watson DUMBARTON: Martin, Pettigrew, Docherty, J Thomson (Stirling, 71), Buchanan, Stevenson (Barr, 84), Todd, Gallagher, R Thomson, Harvie, Smith (Fleming, 87) Subs not used: Ewings, McCallum, Kassarate.