Dumbarton 1 Shire 0

Players, officials and supporters travelled west to Dumbarton with hope, and in anticipation, with spirits raised that the aim of not finishing bottom of the Third Division would be realised.

Alas, it was not to be, although it was not for the want of trying. A gale force wind turned the match, so vital to Shire, into a farce. It was also to be the undoing of the club's teenage debutant keeper, Norrie McIntyre.

He was thrown into the limelight by the unavailability of Gary O'Connor and, unfortuntely for him, his first task of the match was to pick the ball out of the net.

Ten minutes were on the clock when Craig Brittain hit a fairly routine cross in from the left. The ball, however, swerved unpredictibly in the wind and caught the young keeper by surprise. So much so that all he could do was spoon the ball into his own net.

With the wind in their faces Shire had problems getting out of their own half. But for all that Dumbarton created very little. They had one half chance early on when Cusack hit a cut back from Coyne well over from just inside the box, but that was pretty much it.

Their only other real effort was Canning's wind-assisted 40 yard free-kick that crashed back off the crossbar with five minutes of the first half to play.

Shire must have fancied their chances with the wind at their backs in the second half and, within two minutes of the re-start, an inswinging corner from Kevin McBride caused so much panic that Potter almost headed into his own net.

After 57 minutes some great passing play sent Derek Ure clear on goal but he was denied by a saving tackle from O'Byrne.

Andy Rogers picked up a loose ball after a bit of penalty box pinball and turned and shot from 10 yards but David Crawford in the Sons' goal dived low to his left to save.

After 64 minutes Dumbarton almost sneaked a second on a rare break upfield. Brittain's ball found Canning unmarked at the back post but his hook shot went over the bar.

A minute later David Nicholls thought he had brought the scores level with a trademark thunderbolt from 25 yards but he was denied by a fantastic full-length diving save from Crawford low to his left.

Setpieces in the gale were always going to cause defences danger and Michael Bolochoweckyj had three great opportunities, all from Kevin McBride corners, that went narrowly wide or too high.

Dumbarton substitutes McNaught and McPhee both had breakaway opportunities but, one-on-one with the Shire keeper, they were denied as young McIntyre made amends for his earlier lapse with fine saves.

In injury time a McBride corner caught in the wind and would have ended up in the net without anyone getting a touch had McPhee not made a desperate goalline clearance.

Dumbarton : Crawford, Evans, Brittan, Lennon, O'Byrne, Canning, Russell, Potter, Coyne(McNaught 75), Brannan(McPhee 75), Cusack(Hamilton 64).

Shire : McIntyre, Black(Savage 52), K. McBride, Oates, Bolochoweckyj, King(McKenzie 80), Donaldson(Gibb 62), Brand, Rodgers, Nicholls, Ure.

Referee : A. Boyd

Attendance : 607.