Match Report - By Keith Johnston

Brechin fans went into today’s game hoping their team wouldn’t leave it as late as they did on Wednesday night against Arbroath to get a win. City were without captain Paul Deas who has the flu – he was replaced at left back by Roddy Black. Having finished third in the division last year, Dumbarton are having a poor season this time round, but had a point to prove today.

Brechin started the game quite well, enjoying good spells of possession. The closest opportunity City had in the early stages was when a superb last ditch tackle denied Charlie King a one-on-one with the goalkeeper. At the other end, Craig Nelson made a great save but the flag was already up for offside.
In the 20th minute, Ian Campbell’s men fell behind to a very soft goal. There was some debate over whether the initial free-kick should have been given, but the ball was cleared by White at the expense of a corner. From the set-piece, City inexplicably left experienced striker Eddie Annand free at the far post and he had a simple header to make it 1-0.
Five minutes later, Brechin were fortunate not to concede a second after a rare error by Craig Nelson. He dropped an easy cross, allowing Paul Ronald to shoot, but Scott Walker was on the line to spare his goalkeeper’s blushes.
City responded with a free-kick from 25 yards by Stuart Callaghan which was just too high. Craig Brittain was the man penalised for taking down Craig Winter.
Disaster struck for City with 36 minutes on the clock though as they conceded a second. James McInstry broke through to collect a long clearance. He held off the challenge of Craig Winter and slid the ball into the corner of the net.
You might have thought this would spur City into action, but if anything it could have been 3-0 at half-time. Steve Hamilton’s clearance was charged down and could have sneaked over Nelson and in, but fortunately it landed just off target.

Ian Campbell tried to change things at half-time, withdrawing Craig Winter and bringing Graham Gibson on instead. “Toorie” may have been struggling after having had the flu during the week, or he may have picked up a knock from Brittain’s first half challenge.
Within three minutes of the half getting underway, Brechin had a good chance. Roddy Black went on a great run down the left and picked out Scott Walker at the far post, but he was off-balance and unable to find the target.
Four minutes later, Dumbarton almost got a third goal. Annand was again left in too much space, but was denied by a great fingertip save from Craig Nelson.
Brechin replied with a Steve Hamilton cross that was knocked down by Paul Ritchie to Steve Hampshire but Grindlay was well placed to save.
On the hour mark, City had another attempt to get one back when Grindlay failed to gather a Stuart Callaghan cross. However Paul Ritchie’s overhead kick landed just over the bar.
For the rest of the game, Brechin tried to push forward as much as possible but struggled to create any good scoring chances. Dumbarton soaked up everything City had to offer and in truth it was a miracle they didn’t score some more goals as City left huge gaps at the back.
In the 67th minute Iain Russell got away from Scott Walker and cut back to Eddie Annand but he blazed over the bar.
Ten minutes later, John Dillon must have thought he had scored, but Craig Nelson pulled off a magnificent save to deny him.
Finally, with five minutes remaining, substitute John Gemmell fired wide of the target when he had a lot of space in the box.
There was a fair amount of time-wasting tactics employed by the visitors, but today there was to be no injury time miracle. Wednesday’s performance was described in some quarters as larceny, but if Brechin had managed to get something out of today’s game then they would have had to come up with an even stronger word than that.

Overall, a desperately poor performance by Brechin. I can’t remember the last time I wrote a report in which there were so few City chances to describe. In truth, it was fortunate that Dumbarton didn’t extend their advantage in the latter stages of the match. The Sons have not been enjoying some good results recently and you always felt that if Brechin could have got one back things may have got a bit more interesting. As it was, we will just have to write it off as a one-off, poor performance and dust ourselves down for Berwick away next Saturday. I imagine there will be a few changes to the team for that one.

Other Results - Bell's League Division 2

Arbroath 2 Alloa Athletic 1

Alloa's good recent run terminated by Arbroath.

Morton 4 Forfar Athletic 0

Chris Templeman scores a hat-trick as Forfar move into the relegation zone.

Stirling Albion 2 Ayr United 0

Stirling continue their good run with victory over Ayr.

Stranraer 1 Berwick Rangers 0

Stranraer show they are still able to grind out 1-0 wins without David Graham.