Dumbarton boss Stevie Farrell admits his side should have been hit for double figures against Annan Athletic on Saturday.

Sons lost 3-1 at Galabank as they lost further ground in the League Two title race with Stirling Albion now leading by nine points with five games to go.

Only heroics from goalkeeper Brett Long prevented the home side from finding the net any more than the 3 times they did, though there were chances for the visitors too.

Faz has challenged his side to stand up and take responsibility for the defeat and found only one positive from the afternoon.

Speaking post-match, he said: “We’ve had two chances in the first-half that we should score and they’ve had six or seven. 3-1 flattered us in terms of the first-half [performance]. The game probably should have finished 10-3.

“We restricted them in the second-half, particularly when we brought David Wilson and Kalvin Orsi on who bettered the shape, but it’s easy at that point when its 3-0. The game is done and dusted.

“Every time we have had to change the shape with this group of players, we struggle. We changed it today because we didn’t have anything else.

“We worked on it on Tuesday and Thursday and the reality is that it was so poor, and I’ve said that to them. At the end of the day, I take responsibility. I’m not standing here blaming my players.

“You don’t get 13 or 14 clean sheets in this league without being a good defensive unit and we need to get back to that.

“I’ve stood here and took full responsibility when we’ve changed the shape at Stirling and another game, but they’ve got to take responsibility now.

“They need to stand up as players and find a way that’s going to change the way they are playing just now.

“The only positive we can take is having Kalvin Orsi, Declan Byrne and David Wilson back. It allowed us to get back to our normal shape and in the second-half, in the last twenty minutes, the players were more comfortable in it.

“We’ve still got a hell of a chance of promotion and I’ll defy anybody who says we haven’t. We’ve got a great chance but the penny has got to drop.”