Dumbarton star Ryan Blair jokes "I wish I'd got a hat-trick" after first career brace

Ryan Blair netted two goals in his first 72 Dumbarton appearances.

On his 73rd outing it took the former Swansea City man just 55 minutes to double his tally in a Sons shirt.

The 28-year-old curled in a clever fifth minute free-kick to open the scoring in Saturday’s 6-2 win at Spartans, before repeating the trick in the second-half - this time dipping a powerful effort over the home wall and into the net.

And the left-back, who also had an effort cleared off the line, joked that he wasn’t frustrated at missing out on an unlikely hat-trick.

He told the Lennox: “I wish I’d got the hat-trick to be honest! But I’m still happy to score two and help us get the three points.

“It’s the first time I’ve ever scored a double. I maybe managed it at youth level or something like that, but I’ve never done it in my senior career.

“I always fancy myself from free-kicks. For the first one I saw that the wall was big, so I went to the goalkeeper’s side. The second was a bit further out and the wall wasn’t as big, so I fancied myself to go over it.

“The result is a big step towards where we want to be.

“Potentially we could face each other in the playoffs, so the results set a bit of a marker. Especially getting it away from home.

“It’s so important to build momentum heading into the playoffs. We have seven games left and want to pick up as many points as we can.”

Blair started 40 games for the Sons in his debut season at The Rock, all in central midfield, but this season has found his gametime more limited.

However the departure of Matty Shiels and an injury for Greig Young left Sons looking for cover at left-back, and it’s a gap Blair has stepped in to fill.

He continued: “Playing at left-back has been a big change, but I’m happy to play