We always seem to play Dumbarton in pre-season and always at their place. The days of Saints having home friendlies seem to be long gone, even if they are against lower league sides rather than the sort of glamorous opponents everyone else in the SPL seems to be able to attract. However, in the current financial climate a trip to Dumbarton for a friendly makes sense. It's not far away so there's no need to pay for a hotel and these days you don't even have to pay the toll on the Erskine Bridge. Bargain!
Tomorrow night's game is set to be a mixture of youngsters and experienced players rather than a relatively full strength side - hence it being monickered as a Saints XI. However, with the size of our squad at the moment a mixture of youth and experience is probably what we're going to see in most of our league games. We have a lot of highly rated youngsters at the moment and players such as Thomas Reilly, Sean Kelly, Ross Meechan and Mark Lamont will see tomorrow's game as a chance to stake a claim for a place in the first team squad. Grant Adam has rather more pressing matters on his mind as he continues to try to win a contract. What senior players can we expect to be given childminding duties? Well, Gary Teale and Darren McGregor missed the games in Spain so are likely to be involved while those who didn't start on Saturday probably will do so tomorrow. Whether that includes Graham Carey and Kenny McLean, who missed the triumph through injury, remains to be seen.
Despite us having gone to Dumbarton in pre-season for what seems like forever this is the first time we'll have made the trip with them being a first division side. They didn't require any league restructuring or clubs going bust to achieve it either, instead winning promotion through the play-offs last season. It's a phenomenal achievement - they only won the third division a few years back - but now the aim has to be ensuring they stay there. 1996 was the last time the Sons embarked on a first division campaign and manager Alan Adamson will be looking to ensure it's not 16 more years before they start another one.
Former Saint Craig Dargo helped Dumbarton to promotion last season with some vital goals in the play-offs but he has decided to seek alternative employment for this season. As a result it'll be up to the likes of Bryan Prunty to fire in the goals. The SFL veteran was a target for Saints years ago and certainly knows how to find the back of the net at this level. Scott Agnew scored a fair amount last season - even more impressive when you consider the fact he's a midfielder - and will be relishing the chance to test himself in the first division.
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