The victory strengthens Dumbarton’s position in seventh place and puts them five points clear of the Championship relegation play-off spot.

That marks an impressive turnaround on what might have been for Sons. Three games ago they were 1-0 down to Livingston at half-time, leaving them rooted to the bottom of the league.

However they turned that game around to win 2-1 and now have a chance to leapfrog Raith Rovers in the table with a win at the Rock over the Kirkcaldy club on Saturday.

Gilhaney said: “The game on Saturday is a big game, if we win we go above them. A few weeks ago that looked unlikely because there was bit of a gap but now they are in the bottom half of the table with us. It’s a great incentive to win on Saturday.” Despite the positivity around the squad after the win over Alloa, Gilhaney concedes that a play-off spot might be too big an ask of Dumbarton this season. But he thinks they can finish in a comfortable mid-table position, which given the strength of opposition in the league this year would be a great achievement.

He said: “It would be a hard ask to get in the play-offs if I’m being honest. You’ve got Hearts and Rangers at the top then Hibs and Queen of the South are two very good sides, so I’d imagine those two would get the last play-off places.

“If it is still achievable towards the end of the season we’ll go for it but the best for us right now is to finish top of the bottom half.

“We finished seventh in our first year and fifth last year, if we could match that it would be great.

“To be fair I think if we finish eighth this season that is still a big achievement.

“We are already ahead of one full-time team in Livingston so if we can finish ahead of the other part-time teams as well that would be a good season.”