Forfar Athletic 0-2 Dumbarton - Sons continue fine form with Loons victory

Stevie Farrell heaped praise on stand-in striker Jinky Hilton, as the Sons secured a commanding victory in Angus - without star man Michael Ruth.

A dead leg ruled the influential forward out of the game, with Hilton given the nod at centre-forward.

And he impressed in a comfortable win for the Sons - who also had two goals chalked off for offside.

Boss Faz said: “I’ve worked with Jinky Hilton a number of times and I’ve played him as a number nine, and he was excellent. He linked the game really well.

“He’s playing really well just now and we didn’t miss Ruthy as much because of how well James played.

“I thought we bossed the game for the first 25 minutes until they changed shape. Then we got a grip of it again.

“We’re going in the right direction. And we’re bobbing along quietly with not a lot of the spotlight on us. That suits us.”

Sons were forced into two changes from the side which had drawn 0-0 with Stenhousemuir a week previous with Ruth joined on the sidelines by Callum Wilson.

Carlo Pignatiello and Blair Malcolm earned recalls.

With a serious crosswind blowing at Station Park, it was the visitors who looked more comfortable early on.

After just 10 minutes Pignatiello’s deep cross was bulleted into the net by the onrushing Tony Wallace via the crossbar - with the flag of the assistant cutting any celebrations short.

A neat passage of play then opened up space for Jinky Hilton, but his low drive was parried away by Marc McCallum.

The two players renewed battle shortly after as Hilton tried his luck from range with a dipping effort, but again McCallum got a strong hand to the shot.

After a long spell where both sides struggled with the wind, Hilton whistled wide from the edge of the box after a surging run from