Dumbarton beat Elgin to keep pressure on league leaders

Sons were dominant throughout the 90-minutes at the Rock and were left frustrated by the frame of the goal on four occasions with Ryan Wallace, Carlo Pignatiello and Tony Wallace all hitting the woodwork before the breakthrough.

It was a familiar source for the hosts to find that goal when Tony Wallace squeezed a penalty underneath Tom McHale midway through the second-half after Kalvin Orsi had been fouled in what turned out to be the winner.

There was still time for the upright to frustrate Dumbarton again when Finlay Gray was next to be denied after rounding the goalkeeper but crashing his effort off the post.

Faz had encouraged his players to remain positive at the break despite being unlucky not to be ahead and joked that even the crucial penalty nearly found a way to stay out.

Speaking post-match, he said: “We said to the players at half-time that we were really happy with the way that we played and moved the ball really well.

Dumbarton stay third with the win (Image: Andy Scott)

“We knew Elgin would be really hard to break down and I think we learned a lot from the Spartans game which is important for us – we went and used the wide areas really well.

“At half-time they were a wee bit frustrated that they weren’t in front and we told them we would find a solution. We were having too much of the ball and have too much quality.

“Out of all the teams in League Two we’re miles in front in touches in the opposition penalty area and you seen it time and time again.

“When you do that you’re going to create chances or goals or opportunities but even the penalty is probably the worst that Tony has hit all season and it crawls in.

“I just felt the longer the game went on we would get that goal – I didn’t expect it come from the penalty spot, I expected it to come from open play – but we’ll take three points.

“It was one of those days where we had to find a solution – our play was good and I was happy with us and we probably deserved to win the game more comfortably but I’ll take the 1-0, the clean sheet and the three points.”

The result keeps Dumbarton in touch with Stenhousemuir and Peterhead at the top of cinch League Two as the top three begin to pull away from the rest of the pack as just two points separate first and third, with six between Sons in third and Spartans in fourth.

Farrell praised his side for meeting the target set and hopes belief can continue to grow.

He added: “That’s six wins in seven, three clean sheets in a row and four wins in a row so we’re on a good run and that breeds confidence.

“We set the target just before the Bonnyrigg game where we had three games coming up where we felt we had an opportunity to get some real points and we’ve ended up with nine.”

Scottish Cup action takes centre stage this weekend when Dumbarton travel to League One side Annan Athletic on Saturday.