Sons look to a big Boro warm-up

Jun 5 2009 by Andy Galloway, Lennox Herald (main ed)

FORMER English Premier League giants Middlesbrough are heading for Dumbarton to play a pre-season friendly.

Gareth Southgate’s men, relegated from the premiership last month, have agreed to a glamour warm-up fixture at the Rock on Wednesday, July 22.

The match has come about as Boro will use the Strathclyde Homes Stadium as a training base for their pre-season tour of Scotland.

Sons boss Jim Chapman is relishing the prospect of his team possibly lining up against the likes of Tuncay, Jeremie Aliadiere and Stewart Downing.

He said: “A friend told me they were coming to Scotland in pre-season. They will be staying at Cameron House and looking to use the stadium as a training base.

“So we took it a stage further and asked if we could play them, and an agreement has been drawn up. It’s just a matter of getting everything finalised.

“It will be a fantastic opportunity for us to test ourselves and I hope the fans will turn out in force as well.

“We have some real quality opposition lined up for pre-season and that’s how I like it to be as it’s an indication of how far we have progressed.”

Sons’ first scheduled friendly, against Partick Thistle on Tuesday, July 14, has now been confirmed to take place at the Rock.

Another home game has been arranged against St Mirren for Thursday, July 16, while the Annan Athletic tournament takes place over the weekend of July 18-19.

Then comes the Boro match. Kick-off times for the home matches have still to be confirmed.