Stirling Albion boss Darren Young hailed his players for cracking Dumbarton’s stingy defence twice on the way to an important point in the title race.
The match between League Two’s runaway sides had been heavily billed before kick off and even despite Scotland’s opening Euro 2024 qualifier taking place at the same time, a bumper crowd of 1,441 filled Forthbank to watch a compelling contest.
The Binos twice trailed in the match but showed the battling instincts which has been a trademark of their season so far to haul themselves back into the contest and maintain their two-point gap at the top.
Dumbarton had come into the contest with the meanest defence in the division having conceded only ten goals and Sons keeper Brett Long racking up 13 clean sheets.
But Stirling showed their teeth in front of goal, with Robert Thomson’s two headed goals from corners ensuring it was honours even.
The Binos gaffer also backed midfielder Jack Leitch for bouncing back with a second assist on the day after his mistake leading to Finlay Gray’s goal for the visitors.
Young said: “I felt we did really well, the first goal from their point of view was a great cross and header, we maybe could’ve done more to stop the cross, great for us to get back into it with Thommo’s goal.
“We had the majority of possession and with the way they play, it’s up to us to try and break them down; I was probably a bit disappointed in the final third with the passes in behind, we maybe could have done a little bit better.
“It was great character and desire to come back in to the game again after losing a second goal, it was their only shot on target and they make it hard for you and you need to break them down again like in the first half.
“We got Thommo’s goal and we were pushing and pushing at the end there but it’s a good point to get on the board because we’re still top of the table and two points clear. The second goal, Leitchy has put his hand up for that, but he’s won games for us as well in the last few weeks. We’ll take the point and nothing is won or lost now, there are still eight games to go.”
It’s the end to a busy week for the Binos, with another hard-fought point at Stranraer followed by a midweek home win over Forfar which sent them top of the league. Now Young is happy his players can enjoy a midweek away from the stresses on the park, while Dumbarton face a pair of home games in four days.
“We’ve just got to dust ourselves down, we’ve had a hard week playing on Tuesday and then Saturday again after they’ve had the week off so it’s good from that point of view,” Young added.
