Dumbarton boss Jim Duffy praised his side's effort and application as they picked up their first win of 2020 with a 1-0 win over Clyde at The C&G Systems Stadium.
Morgyn Neill’s finish from a Joe McKee corner midway through the second-half was the difference between the sides last night in a game where Sons really had to dig in on a heavy pitch at the Rock.
The first-half was fairly even with chances falling both sides way – Chris McStay came close in the opening minutes for Clyde while McKee’s free-kick hit the side netting.
The visitors were largely in control of the ball for much of the second-half, without doing too much to harm the Sons defence – and infact it was Jai Quitongo who had the first chance of the half, but Clyde goalkeeper David Mitchell did well to stand up and block his shot.
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A timely bobble when Mark Lamont looked set to stroke the ball into the net kept the score at 0-0 before David Goodwillie fired the ball across goal, with Ally Love just out of reach.
But after 66 minutes Sons would take the lead when Neill stroked home his fourth goal of the season following McKee’s corner.
The Bully Wee created a couple more half chances, and Chris Johnston perhaps should have done better when in behind the Dumbarton defence than to only force Conor Brennan into a somewhat simple save.
But Sons managed to see the game out and Duffy, who is in crutches for the next six weeks after a knee operation last week, was left satisfied after a change of formation at half-time saw his side on their way to three points.
He said: “It wasn’t the best performance we’ve had but what we had was a magnificent amount of effort and blocking and tackling and protecting our goal.
“It’s another set piece and a great finish from Morgyn – not one we’re accustomed to seeing, it’s normally with the head but it was a fantastic composed finish and then we had to see the game out.
“Clyde threw everything at us in the last seven or eight minutes and there was a lot of tired legs out there, the pitch was rather heavy.
“You could see the players were treading a little bit of water towards the end of the game, but fair play to them because they hung on in there and the clean sheet was vital.
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“It doesn’t matter what system you play, it’s down to the player's application and they applied themselves really well.
“It wasn’t classic and free flowing, I’m not going to try and kid anyone on about that, but at this time of the year on the back of some sticky results it’s about rolling the sleeves up and digging out a result. We don’t dig out many scrappy 1-0’s so I’m delighted we done that.”
Sons are back in action this Saturday when they play host to league leaders Raith Rovers. Kick-off at the Rock is 3pm.
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