Spartans 2-0 Dumbarton - Sons drop points after slack second-half showing

Two second-half goals saw Dumbarton crash to defeat in the capital, with boss Stevie Farrell admitting his side got what they deserved.

Coming into the game having scored seven times in their last two outings, Sons struggled to threaten a well-drilled Spartans side - who made Sons pay for their lack of cutting edge play with well-taken goals from Cammy Russell and Bradley Whyte.

Frustrated boss Farrell, who saw his side miss the opportunity to go top of the table with neither Peterhead or Stenhousemuir in action, said: “We’ve had all the possession but we don’t do enough with it.

“For the last 20 minutes of the first-half we looked a real threat. They sat in and were really disciplined in their shape. It was hard to break them down with their big four defenders.

“We knew we’d have to play around them rather than going through them.

“We did that at the end of the first-half and created chances. We felt we were strong in the wide areas and that was an area we felt we’d get joy.

“But in the second-half we didn’t do that. We got no joy in the wide areas at all, and when we tried to play through the middle we didn’t hurt them.

“Ultimately we got what we deserved.”

Farrell stuck with the same side that had defeated Clyde handsomely a fortnight previous, but both sides looked like they’d been out of action for a period in a low-key opening 20 minutes.

Michael Ruth had Sons’ only chance of note, as a cute ball over the top sent the forward in on goal - only for a tight offside call to deny him a fourth goal of the season.

At the other end Spartans’ first chance of note arrived with 24 minutes played, but Cammy Russell’s drive was comfortably held by Sons’ Brett Long.

It looked as if it was going to be a game of few chances until