Falkirk 1 Dumbarton 1: Bairns pay price for misses

The first-half was a strange affair with not a lot of quality on show, not a whole lot of chances yet two goals shared between the teams.

The away side scored their first goal of the league season on the 13 minute mark when Alistair Roy was sent clear by a superb defence-splitting pass from David Wilson. The former Hearts youngster finished emphatically past Robbie Thomson to give the Sons the start that their organised play had deserved.

Falkirk fought back with Rory Loy having their first shot on target on the 15 minute mark, a low dragged effort that failed to properly test Gallacher in the Dumbarton goal. The Sons keeper was soon picking the ball out of his net though when Myles Hippolyte converted a penalty following a Mark Stewart foul on Nathan Austin.

Dumbarton then came close from a driven Tom Walsh strike, tipped over by Thomson. From the resulting flurry of corners, the visitors hit the bar amid serious confusion in the Bairns box.

Hippolyte had two chances to add to his tally at the end of the first-half. First of all, firing wide from range after finding himself in space and then drilling over the bar from similar range.

The second-half brought about a raft of chances for the Bairns with the opportunities almost getting better as the game progressed.

The main offenders for the missed chances were Austin, Hippolyte and McKee. Austin first of all dragging a shot wide after being found by Grant, then being snuffed out by Gallacher in another decent chance.

As the game went on, Dumbarton retreated deeper and deeper and found possession harder to come by. Falkirk rampaged forward time after time. The Sons had their goalkeeper Gallacher and the post to thank for not losing a late one as Hippolyte was once again involved.

Alex Harris then dragged an effort just wide of the post before Joe McKee fired wide when presented with great time and space in the middle of the goal.

It was a frustrating afternoon for the Bairns who will now turn attention to a derby visit to in form Dunfermline on Saturday.