Finlay Gray was gutted his sixth goal of the season wasn’t enough to reward the 300-strong Dumbarton support with three points against title rivals Stirling Albion.
After ex-Son Robert Thomson had cancelled out Ross MacLean’s 21st minute opener, Gray struck seven minutes into the second-half, sending the vocal away support into raptures – and the Sons back to the top of League Two.
However, Thomson and Stirling Albion would have the final say as they levelled to maintain their two point cushion.
And boyhood Dumbarton fan Gray admits he was gutted that his goal didn’t prove to be the winner – but says confidence is soaring again after a morale-sapping defeat to Albion Rovers the previous week.
Cardross-born Finlay said: “These are the games you look forward to all season. It’s first against second, the best two teams in the league.
“I love scoring goals and it was amazing seeing so many fans there as well to celebrate with.
“It’s just so disappointing that it wasn’t the winner.
“It’s really disappointing to lose two goals from set pieces. Last time it was four corners we lost goals from. That’s really frustrating. But apart from that we’re quite happy.
“The manager told us that everyone had written us off. Franko (McKeown) was at Forthbank on Tuesday night and said that everyone in the stadium was writing us off. But that takes pressure off us and puts it on them.
“That lets us play with more freedom. It’s better when the pressure is off.”
The Sons welcome Forfar Athletic to the Rock tonight (Wednesday) looking to make amends for a 5-1 loss to relegation battlers Albion Rovers in their last outing in G82.
And Finlay reckons the Sons will put on a show for the home faithful.
He continued: “We’re feeling confident going into the Forfar game. The result on Saturday gave us a big boost.
“We’ve got access to Cryolab so we can go there where it’s about minus 130 degrees. It puts you in for three minutes. It makes your legs feel like you’re walking on clouds, so we should be okay for Wednesday.”
Boss Stevie Farrell meanwhile has called on his side to play through the pain barrier for the final eight games of the season – with title glory on the line.
He said: “Sometimes football isn’t about quality. It’s about heart and desire.
“It’s having that desire to protect your goal and play through injury. And I have that in abundance.
“From the start of the season I’ve said that I know this group and they won’t let me down.
“We were down five key players. We’ve then had to bring Ally Love and Kalvin Orsi off.
“There has to be an appreciation of that. If Stirling came in with four or five players out it would hurt them. And they’ve got a full squad.
“We came into the game with big players missing, but we didn’t let that affect us at all.
“If we need to be in over the weekend, Monday or Tuesday then we’ll be in to help their recovery. If you’re going to challenge for a title you have to do the extraordinary.”
