Dumbarton 0 Forfar Athletic 1

Forfar Athletic picked up all 3 points in the rearranged Cinch League 2 fixture on Wednesday night much to the delight of a strong travelling support thanks to a first half penalty save from Marc McCallum and a second half goal from Seb Ross.

Pitch conditions in the shadow of the Rock weren’t ideal for either team, rain throughout the day meant the pitch was heavy going and started cutting up early on. Both teams resorted to long balls trying to spring the offside trap without much success however it was the home team who were given the ideal opportunity to take the lead when awarded a penalty on 17 minutes . Andy Munro was adjudged to have fouled his man from a Sons speculative ball into the box, resulting in the referee pointing to the spot.

Ally Love stepped up but failed to beat the Loons keeper, McCallum superbly diving to his left and saving Loves well placed penalty.

Goal scoring chances remained slim first half for both teams as they cancelled each other out, play was scrappy at times but it was definitely the Loons who went in happier following chances from a Ben Armour header, a Craig Slater shot and Andy Munro just failing to find the target all minutes before the half time whistle.

HT 0 - 0.

Second half resumed with the Sons playing towards their home fans and right from the off they were looking to make amends for failing to score first half. Thomas Brindley making a crucial block on the goal line to deny McLean from a certain goal. Minutes later Sons Gray had a chance but he dragged his shot wide much to the relief of the away support. The Loons got going themselves and Craig Slater who was controlling the game in midfield came close with a direct freekick but it was just too high.

Seb Ross who looked lively all night making runs to try and get in behind the Dumbarton back four got his reward following good work from Nathan Flannigan out on the right. Flannigan beat his man before squaring it to Seb Ross whose right footed shot beat the keeper on 63 minutes putting the Loons a goal up.

This prompted a Dumbarton change with Wallace replacing Love and an all out attack approach from home team. Ray McKinnon had to react as the Sons were causing problems, a triple substitution with Aitken replacing Armour. Hutton for Moore and Max Gillies coming on for Seb Ross gave the Loons more height to defend as Dumbarton were throwing everything at them.

As Sons pushed for an equaliser the Loons had break away chances to kill off the game however a combination of the pitch cutting up and wrong choices meant Flannigan wasn’t found out wide when he would have had a one on one with only the keeper to beat.

Some fantastic resilient defending from the Loons preserved the one nil lead and Marc McCallum was forced into a magnificent reactionary save with only minutes to go but deservedly the Loons held out for the win.

FT 0 - 1

Manager Ray McKinnon was delighted with the attitude of the players commenting “the boys were magnificent tonight obviously Marc’s penalty save was crucial to keep us level first half, but we controlled the game and I said at halftime the game is there to be won. Second half we showed great resilience after Sebs goal as they threw everything at us, I am delighted with the 3 points and it carries us into our home game on Saturday against Albion Rovers in good spirit.”