Dumbarton manager Stevie Farrell admits his sides performance on Saturday to grind out a win at East Fife pleased him even more than last weeks dominant win over Bonnyrigg Rose.

A fourth minute goal from Kalvin Orsi was enough to earn Sons all three points at Bayview and keep his side in touch with Peterhead at the top of cinch League Two.

After scoring four goals and winning comfortably last week, it was a different kind of performance from the visitors on Saturday as they were forced to defend a 1-0 lead for much of the afternoon.

A pattern in both games has been Sons starting the fixtures relatively slowly with a lapse in concentration presenting Jack Healy with a one-on-one opportunity that was kept out by Brett Long in the opening 20 seconds.

It was a similar story last week when Rose pounced on a mistake at the back from Dumbarton with Long keeping that one out as well, and Faz was full of praise for his number one.

Speaking to the Reporter, he said: “We won 4-0 last week by scoring a lot of goals and playing free flowing football and for us then to go and grind out a result at a tough venue on Saturday, I’m probably happier with the three points against East Fife.

“We had the best part of 90 minutes to defend a lead after going up early so it was a good test for us and we stood up to it well.

“I was disappointed with us for the first 10 minutes last week and on Saturday it was probably only the first 20 seconds.

Dumbarton and Vale of Leven Reporter: Dumbarton remain two points behind PeterheadDumbarton remain two points behind Peterhead (Image: Andy Scott)

“That’s why, for me, there is no one better in the league than Brett Long because he doesn’t have a lot to do but when he is always so concentrated, even in the early stages of the game.”

Orsi’s goal on Saturday was first for Dumbarton in more than two years when he ghosted in from the right to flick home Tony Wallace’s cross, and Faz was quick to provide the assist to one of his backroom staff.

He explained: “Gordon Scanlon [video analyst] takes a lot to do with the goal on Saturday because of where Kalvin finds himself on the pitch.

“He doesn’t find himself there a great deal and we’ve been working on him getting across the defender and coming inside defenders into central areas of the pitch.

“Gordon has been working with him a lot on that and showing a lot of footage so when a player takes that in it’s great to see.”