Dumbarton FC players praying for match to go ahead

Jan 8 2010 by Andy Galloway, Lennox Herald (main ed)

RODDY Hunter revealed that Dumbarton’s players are praying for the weather to change so they can get back into competitive action.

Sons were again out of action on Saturday when the home game with Stenhousemuir was forced off by the continued wintry weather.

And they face another weekend without a competitive match this Saturday as the Active Nation Scottish Cup fourth round takes place.

Sons would have hosted Celtic in the cup had they beaten Morton in the last round, but the Bhoys will travel to the Greenock side instead.

That means Sons’ next scheduled game is at Brechin on Saturday, January 16, and Roddy is desperate for it to go ahead.

The striker also added his voice to calls for a winter shutdown after the second division was wiped out for the third week on the trot.

He said: “It would have been a good week for the club had we won through to play Celtic, but of course it didn’t work out as we hoped.

“But I think the manager will be looking to arrange a bounce game for this weekend to keep us in shape for the Brechin match.

“It has been frustrating, but we had a bounce game with Arthurlie at Toryglen on Sunday, so at least we got a game under our belts.

“The weather in the north-east may be worse than it is here, so all we can do is keep everything crossed and pray that the game will go ahead.

“If there is a case for a winter shutdown, then I think the last few weeks have definitely provided one.

“At least if there was a shutdown, you would know there would be no football for a few weeks. As it is, we are preparing for the games all week only for them to be off.”

Roddy, who has scored three goals this season, feels Sons could have been further up the league table with a better start to the campaign.

But he hopes that results will continue to improve in the second half of the season, along with his goal tally.

He added: “We’ve been happy with results in the latter part of the season so far. The start we made was terrible, but looking at our league position, we are only a few points off the promotion places.

“If we had taken even about five more points at the start of the season, I think we would be right up there.

“Hopefully once the competitive action resumes, we can get another couple of wins on the board and kick on from there.

“Recently we have been creating chances more around the penalty area than inside it. I’m disappointed that I haven’t scored more, but I hope that will change.”