Dumbarton FC skipper hoping for another cup shock

Nov 27 2009 by Marc Mclean, Lennox Herald (main ed)

MICHAEL Dunlop knows what it’s like to produce a shock result in the Scottish Cup – and is hoping Dumbarton can do exactly that on Saturday.

Sons travel to Greenock as underdogs to face first division rivals Morton as their road to Hampden gets under way for another season.

The skipper has been one of the cup’s shock troops before, as part of the Queen’s Park team that beat Raith Rovers 2-0 at Hampden in 2005.

He’s optimistic of doing that again in Sons colours on Saturday, but knows it will be difficult against a Ton side that has scored nine goals in two games.

He said: “Queen’s were in the third division while Raith were in the second, so that was a shock result, which Dumbarton are hoping for on Saturday.

“We definitely have a chance. Nobody expects us to win, but sometimes that’s a good position to be in.

“Morton have obviously done well recently, beating Raith 5-0 and then Airdrie 4-2 on Saturday, so it will be difficult to stop them.

“They beat us in the ALBA Challenge Cup at the start of the season. We didn’t play very well that day, so we have that to make up for.

“We know there will be a good travelling support there. We get that away from home whatever the distance, but with it only being across the River Clyde, hopefully there will be an even bigger turnout.”

Sons were left kicking their heels on Saturday with the postponement of the scheduled second division game at home to Peterhead.

But Michael was pleased by how results went elsewhere, with him and his team-mates now having the chance to consolidate their sixth place.

He added: “Obviously we were looking to bounce back from the defeat to Cowdenbeath, but sometimes the weather just isn’t right.

“It was disappointing because we were looking forward to it, but we will just have to get on with it and look to bounce back this Saturday against Morton instead.

“I didn’t see the pitch myself, but a few of the players got outside and they seemed to think the referee had made the right decision.

“I just went home and watched TV – it was a strange Saturday afternoon for me.

“I would have gone to watch my brother Ross play for Queen’s Park against Livingston, but he was unwell and missed the match.

“The results went well for us, as Stenhousemuir dropped points, meaning they could not overtake us into sixth.

“It also helped us that Clyde lost against East Fife to remain at the bottom, as our first priority is to avoid the battle against the drop.”