Falkirk 1-1 Dumbarton: Sons level late

Craig Sibbald opened the scoring. Picture: Michael Gillen

FALKIRK were denied the morale-boosting victory they craved ahead of Tuesday’s League Cup encounter with Rangers as Chris Kane’s injury-time equaliser extended the Bairns’ winless sequence to a month.

Dumbarton had managed over 90 minutes without conceding a goal in last weekend’s stalemate with Hearts but lasted just four full minutes before going behind. Craig Sibbald’s fifth-minute breakthrough ensured the Sons no longer had anything to cling to, but some late enterprise from the visitors bore fruit.

“We’re disappointed and happy, because we didn’t play well, if we’re being honest about it,” commented Sons manager Ian Murray. “But we scored at the dream time for us to get the point. We got a bit of luck and scored but I felt we weren’t quite at the level we can be, although I don’t think we’ve been at it at all this season.”

There was a simplicity to the opening goal that would have concerned Dumbarton. On-loan Aberdeen full-back Joe Shaughnessy cut back in from the right flank to find Tom Taiwo with a short pass. As the Sons defence attempted to play offside, Taiwo dinked a cross into the box and Sibbald rose to nod in with ease.

Falkirk’s high-tempo attacking created difficulties for the visiting defence and they came mightily close to extending their advantage in the 29th minute. Rory Loy emerged from a stramash to surge to the bye-line but Shaughnessy found the crossbar instead of the net with a powerful shot from the cutback. Saves at either end from Danny Rogers and Jamie MacDonald after the break looked to have ensured there would be no further goals.

However, as the Sons threw everything at Falkirk in the closing 15 minutes, they finally got their reward when Kane bundled in Steven McDougall’s low cross almost two minutes past the regulation 90.

“For all the hard work the boys put into the game we didn’t end the game that strongly, which was disappointing,” admitted Falkirk assistant manager James McDonaugh. “It was probably two points dropped.”