Dumbarton and Airdrieonians could not be separated on Saturday for the third time this season as the teams battled to a 2-2 draw at The Penny Cars Stadium.

Fans were still taking to their seats in the opening period when Darryl Duffy poked the hosts ahead with Sons having to wait until the second-half to equalise through Bobby Barr.

Leighton McIntosh regained the Diamonds’ lead before Dom Thomas struck late on to grab a share of the spoils.

The recent freeze had the game in doubt, even on the all-weather surface at the Penny Cars Stadium, but the pitch passed an 11.30am inspection.

Airdrieonians took an early lead as Duffy bundled over the line, picking up on the loose ball after Grant Adam could only push McIntosh’s volley as far as the Diamonds number nine.

There was little for Sons to get excited about in the early stages with a few efforts from Thomas straight at opposition goalkeeper David Hutton the closest they came.

Adam was the busier of the goalkeepers as he had to race off his line to block Ryan Conroy’s shot before McIntosh and Declan Glass were also left frustrated.

The former Rangers stopper then timed his challenge perfectly to prevent Duffy getting a shot away on the stroke of half-time.

Sons would have more to shout about in the second-half and secured an equaliser after 11 minutes.

Thomas fed the ball out wide to Barr and the winger drove forward from 35 yards out before swerving a shot into the top corner.

Dumbarton were in control without doing too much to trouble the Airdrie defence and were unfortunate to find themselves behind again eight minutes later.

A debatable corner wasn’t fully cleared which allowed McIntosh to clinically finish.

Sons were pushing for a second equaliser of the afternoon which ultimately left them open at the back.

This particular counter attack from the hosts seemed to be gone after McIntosh’ corner went behind everyone, but a dodgy touch from Paton created another opening.

Adam got something on Glass’ strike to force it behind before getting a hand on Duffy’s looping volley to tip it onto the bar.

Sons were doing their best to draw level again and were having a lot of joy down the left-hand side with Barr and Cammy Ballantyne linking up to win a series of corners.

But their frustrations would continue to grow as what should have been a fairly straight forward call for the officials resulted in them signalling for a goal-kick.

It looked like Sons wouldn’t get the equaliser their play deserved until Thomas got on the end of substitute Ben Armour’s touch forward and rifled the ball into the far corner from a tight angle.

It was a terrific finish and there was still time for another couple of chances for Dumbarton to steal it, but Boris Melingui hit the side netting and Ross Forbes brought out a smart save from Hutton.

There’s no game for Sons this weekend due to Raith Rovers still being in the Scottish Cup, so next up for Dumbarton is a trip to Stranraer on February 16.