Dumbarton 0-0 Stenhousemuir: Fourth draw in a row for Warriors as they close in on League Two title
Dumbarton and Stenhousemuir played out a 0-0 draw under the rock as the Warriors gap at the summit of League Two was cut to 13 points.
Stenhousemuir made four changes to the side that drew with Peterhead last week. James Berry, Matty Aitken, Jordan Kirkpatrick and Bradley Rodden all dropped out for Adam Brown, Ross Taylor, Matty Yates and Euan O’Reilly.
Dumbarton started the better of the two sides and had a couple of early chances, Michael Ruth had an early chance saved by Darren Jamieson.
Just a couple of minutes later, Mark Durnan put a header wide from a corner.
The Warriors had their first chances in the match in the sixth minute. Gregor Buchanan put a header over the bar from an Adam Brown corner.
Stenhousemuir went close again in the 12th minute when Nicky Jamieson put a header over the bar.
Stenhousemuir had a great chance to take the lead in the 18th minute. The Warriors caught Dumbarton out with a long throw and the ball fell to Yates who was left one-on-one with Jay Hogarth, but the Dumbarton stopper was able to save well.
It wasn’t until the 36th minute until the next chance in the match. Buchanan was forced to make a cynical foul on Finlay Gray who managed to start a counter attack, nothing came from the free kick though.
Stenhousemuir then had a chance just before the break, through Euan O’Reilly’s left footed effort went just wide of the target.
In the second half, the visitors started well with both Taylor and Brown missing decent chances in the early stages of the half.
James Hilton had the Sons’ first chance of the second half, it came in the 55th minute when his long-range effort went just wide of the goal.
The game started to open after the hour mark. Stenhousemuir then had a golden opportunity to take the lead in the 62nd minute.
Yates played a low driven ball across the six-yard box, but Taylor just couldn’t quite get on the end of it to send it goalward.
The hosts responded with their best chance in the match. Hilton played a lovely, floated ball to Tony Wallace who forced a great save from Darren Jamieson.
The Warriors then had another great chance to edge in front with 20 minutes to play. O’Reilly had an effort blocked on the line and Dumbarton were able to clear.
The game started to fade out after the 70th minute mark and it started to seem that both sides were going to settle for a draw as neither side had any clear-cut chances in the match.
Stenhousemuir now move onto next week where they host East Fife at Ochilview Park. The task is simple, win and Stenhousemuir will be crowned as league champions.
“I thought offensively we were far better, Warriors boss Gary Naysmith said. “We went with more attacking players with more pace in our team, played Matty Yates in a different role and I thought it worked.
"As the game went on my general feeling that a draw was a fair result.”