Dumbarton vs Brechin

[optimistic]

I hear Ewings has signed,

[cameron2000]

I hope Willie Dyer’s not at Centre Back but that’s what I fear.

 

[Boghead ranter]

McGowan starts.

TEAM | McGowan, Ballantyne, Dyer, Dowie, Carswell, Hutton, Gallagher, Forbes, R Barr, Paton, Thomas. Subs - Trialist (GK), Spencer, Allardice

[sonsanorak]

I hope Willie Dyer’s not at Centre Back but that what I fear.

I think it could be hutts or carsy

[Jan Vojáček]

I hope those chances we missed don't come back to haunt us, we've really done everything but score.

Thomas makes such a difference. He's just on another level to everyone else we have (minus maybe Forbes intelligence wise). Going forward we've looked really fluid, full of flair and drive. Bobby Barr is getting all sorts of joy down the right, but his final ball has been woeful.

If we can keep up these levels in the second half then I'm confident we will finally force the ball in. Brechin will improve in the second-half though, of that I've got no doubts.

[hedgeman83]

2 goals from free kicks. Dodgy keeper again ?

[Cold Feet]

Good grief. Another manager who was a defender  and we concede 11 in 3 and we are not finished.

I know we have squad built by Dodds that  has no real out ball. But it appears little has changed.

Christ we have scored.

Still where do we go from here?

Down?

[Cold Feet]

12 in 3.

With a defence like this we have no chance.

Us it our keeper? Does he need a rest?

[Jan Vojáček]

Dom Thomas is the best player in this league, and I'm afraid nobody else can argue with me on that.

[citydiehard]

Another abysmal performance.Barry Smith is the wrong choice as a replacement for Dodds.That is two shite appointments by the committee,do they want us relegated into the bottom tier,it looks that way.The committee need to have ambition and appoint a decent manager who knows how to get the best out of the crap players we have.

[aftershocker]

Much better performance...can we only play well at home?

 

Thomas clearly man of the match, but no failures

 

Brechin were dreadful...numbers 6 and 17 especially

 

We so need to keep Thomas after January

[mike rankine]

Outstanding display from Dom Thomas. Carswell did a great fill in job at centre half too. No failures in the team today. Hope they enjoy their night out in Dublin [emoji106]

[FifeSons]

[Silverton End]

Badly needed that win, had we taken our chances 1st half it could have been a bigger scoreline.

Delighted

#FortressRock

[The Moonster]

Could've been 6 or 7. Dom Thomas almost unplayable again. Forbes much happier in the middle of the park and Gallagher on the score sheet when he's finally played up front. A great days work all in, but it's worthless if we don't keep up that level of performance.

 

[gm_1982]

That was absolutely painful. Awful all over the park.

Smith has his hands tied to an extent but the manner in which we are losing is worrying. 12 goals conceded in last 3 games and it could have easily been 20. Defending is atrocious.

[BallochSonsFan]

Everybody gets pass marks from a Sons point of view today.  We had  no passengers and everybody contributed something.

That said, we did have a few standouts. Cammy Ballantyne was very good. Carswell had a solid game at centre half. Gallagher up front worked hard. Dom Thomas was fantastic and fully deserved his man of the match award.

The East Fife game was never going to be a good judge of the Duffy era as it was his first game. We've been inconsistent since he took over but today showed how well we can play if it all comes together.

[sonsanorak]

Great from Sons, thought Tapping had a good game too for Brechin.

Forbes free kick was a goal from the second he kicked it, such a sweet strike.

Jamie mcgoalie done fine and showed good awareness not to make contact with some shots that went wide. Really unlucky with the goal he conceded.

[Howlin' Wilf]

What are we to make of this team? I was fortunate enough not to have witnessed the away games under Duffy but the consensus on the Montrose, Forfar and Airdrie games was that the performances were at least as rank as the results. The home performances though.  Three games, 9 points, 10 goals for and 2 against. Two pretty comprehensive and convincing victories and one rather ground out.

Today we looked up for it from the get-go. Absolutely agree that by the time we scored we could have been 2-3 goals up. The defence looked far better and Carswell coped fine. Dowie looked much more comfortable with him there. I agree with So08 that Thomas looks a cut above this level.

If one were looking for a common factor in our three defeats then they were all rather synthetic, whereas the home victories were real......

 

[Jan Vojáček]

That was absolutely great stuff. From start to finish we were in control, and playing some really exciting football. As others have said there wasn't a failure in the team - but a few guys really turned it on.

I had a good feeling from the warmup - as weird as that sounds. The players looked to be getting on well, and things just felt a bit more positive. If players are enjoying themselves then that should show on the pitch, and it certainly did today.

First-half we really should've been a couple of goals up. Gallagher had one deflected wide, Thomas missed a sitter and Forbes buzzed a great ball across the box that nobody could quite get a touch on. I had feared that, that would come back to haunt us, but nope. In the second we continued to dominate, and finally found the cutting edge.

The opener was a very Calum Gallagher goal. Dom Thomas fizzed in a trademark shot and Gallagher got a wee touch on it to force it beyond Brennan. Nice striker's finish I think you'd call it...

Two minutes later Ross Forbes produces near enough a carbon copy of his free-kick against Berwick Rangers back in 2009. You will not see a more perfect free-kick anywhere in world football. It had pace, it had accuracy, it had direction. It wasn't blasted or anything, just dispatched like a penalty...but from 25 yards and with a host of players in the way.

Michael Paton should've added a third after Dom Thomas had retired some Brechin jobber with an outrageous bit of skill (to find a way to control a high ball and take it through a players' legs when he's behind you is magical stuff) but blazed pver.

No matter, probably best if Thomas just did it himself. He absolutely ripped it out of a couple of defenders before arrowing one into the bottom corner of the net. Is he the most naturally gifted guy I've seen play for us? I'm not sure, but he's right up there with Stephen Dobbie and Sam Stanton for me.

Brechin got one back, which was a bit of a shame for Jamie McGowan as he'd done well, before Gallagher and Thomas again teamed up for another lovely goal.

Thomas breezed past a Brechin player down the left and drilled it across for Gallagher to smash home from about four yards. 

Obviously #DT23 was the standout, but a few others deserve a mention. Calum Gallagher was his usual tireless self and once again proved that he scores goals when he's played up top. Stuart Carswell absolutely strolled it against Andy Jackson and Boris Melingui, and his use of the ball was excellent. Michael Paton took a lot of stick last week, but (wasteful finishing aside) I couldn't fault him today. Worked himself into the ground, covered well defensively and linked things nicely. If he could finish he'd have walked away with an easy double today.

Ross Forbes being back in central-midfield was great too. His vision, touch and passing is sublime. I'm pleased for Jamie McGowan too. His decision making was very positive, and he was confident coming for balls into the box. Deserves to keep his place whenever Smith is back.

Three consecutive home league wins for the first time since January/February 2012, and four goals in one half for the first time since April 2014. Not bad. Not bad at all.