Dumbarton 0
Falkirk 3
League (League 1)

Match Report

IF you're going through hell, just keep going and one day you'll be out the other side.

Dumbarton will keep going, to Alloa next week. But it'll be the latest game where they hope the current wretched run of results will end.

Against the last team they beat, it was hoped this game with Falkirk could be the end of that run. It was anything but.

As soon as Michael Ruth put away an early opening goal for the visitors, it was hard to see anything other than an away win. When Aidan Nesbitt headed the second, hard became impossible.

Charlie Telfer added further to the scoreline. Since the opening goal, Sons simply had not brought enough to the table to warrant a second chance.

The turning point is somewhere down the line for Dumbarton. They just have to find it.

Sons started promisingly. Kalvin Orsi's bending shot was on target but only found the goalkeeper, while Ryan Schiavone narrowly missed getting to Joe McKee's cross.

But on 11 minutes Falkirk took the lead. Ruth saw off a weak challenge for a long ball and cut inside to fire home.

Soon afterwards, a Telfer free kick was heading for the top corner, but Sam Ramsbottom got enough on it to turn it away.

A Nesbitt header also got far too close for comfort even after Ramsbottom got a hand to it, but Dumbarton scrambled the loose ball clear.

No sooner had Eoghan Stokes replaced the injured Paul Paton than Falkirk came close again. A corner found Leon McCann on the edge of the box, but Pat Boyle hacked his shot off the line.

Sons had their moments going forward, but threat on the visiting goal was minimal. Joe McKee fancied his chances from a 20-yard free kick but his shot rolled narrowly past.

The same could also be said of a header by Ruth at close range from another Nesbitt cross. On another day this could have been out of sight by the time the teams went indoors, such were the chances enjoyed by the visitors in the first half.

An equaliser almost came out of nothing when a long kick by Ramsbottom found Schiavone, but his header rolled wide.

The second half started with some hope, but with eight minutes Nesbitt headed home a corner unchallenged. Game over in all but name.

Only a fine save by Ramsbottom denied Telfer a third with an angled effort after Falkirk again dispossessed Sons.

And another poor concession of the ball cost the third goal. Falkirk got away down the left and the ball was cut back for Telfer to put away.

With eight minutes left, there were finally signs of life in front of the Falkirk goal, but the keeper got behind Kalvin Orsi's shot.

Match report written by Andy Galloway (dumbartonfc.com)