DUMBARTON boss Stevie Aitken has hailed the Sons' Championship survival as a ‘huge achievement’ for the club.

Saturday’s 2-1 defeat of St Mirren at the Rock, coupled with Livingston’s 3-1 defeat at Queen of the South, condemned the West Lothian side to a play-off and ensured the Sons will stay in the second tier of Scottish football for a fifth consecutive season.

Aitken’s men have already surpassed last season’s points total of 34 points with one game left to pay He said: “When I took the job last summer one thing I was tasked with doing was keeping the club in the division and we’ve done it with a couple of games to spare.

“We’ve got more points than last season and I think we’ve scored more goals and conceded less.

“It’s a fantastic achievement and if there are any awards being given out then my players certainly deserve them.

“It was terrific to do it in front of our own fans. They have been brilliant this year and have given us plenty of backing.

“It can be difficult in this division when you go a run of games without a win and they still come and support us. It’s a huge achievement. When you see the clubs we are up against in terms of being full-time and with bigger budgets.”

Aitken will not be taking too much time to savour Saturday’s success as he gets on with preparations for next season as he looks to avoid the state of flux he found when he arrived at the Rock last summer with only a handful of players signed.

The Sons boss will be looking to avoid that level of squad turnover and keep most of his key men.

Aitken’s was one name mentioned within the runners and riders for the managerial vacancy at Queen of the South after James Fowler was relieved of his duties. However, with one year left on his Sons contract, Aitken insists his focus is solely on Dumbarton and he would be open to talks with the club to extend his contract.

He said: “It was a surprise, you don’t like to see any manager lose their job. I feel for him, he had a terrific first season there and then he lost five or six really important players.

"I’ve been used to being mentioned for different jobs from when we started doing well at Stranraer. My focus is 100 per cent on Dumbarton and nothing else has crossed my mind bar that.

“That is something that is up to the club. I’m really enjoying it here and if the club wanted to speak to me about extending it I’d certainly listen to what they had to say. But right now we’re just focussing on the remaining games.”