Edinburgh City’s promotion hopes were dealt a severe blow after going down 3-1 at home to Dumbarton tonight in the first leg of the Play-off final.
Manager Gary Naysmith made one change to the starting XI that drew with Elgin City to qualify for the final with Liam Henderson replacing Callum Crane.
Photos Ian Jacobs
The visitors had the better of the opening period and created the first real chance but Adam Frizzell dragged his shot wide of the post from the edge of the area.
The ‘Sons almost took the lead in the 20th minute when Ross Forbes cut in from the right and unleashed a powerful strike which deflected off a defender but Callum Antell produced a superb diving save and turned the ball past the post.
A slack ball in midfield then gave away possession and culminated with McAllister sending an inviting cross into the danger area but there was no Dumbarton striker available to take advantage.
The hosts then began to dominate possession and in the 40th minute Danny handling went down inside the penalty box under a challenge but the referee waved play on then a Craig Thomson corner from the left was headed wide of the post by Josh Campbell.
Just before the break City took the lead when, after some neat play in midfield, Robbie McIntyre fired a tremendous 25-yard strike into the bottom corner of the net.
Dumbarton were level within seven minutes of the restart when a well worked short corner was headed into the form close range by McGeever.
15-minutes later Jim Duffy’s men took the lead when Ross Forbes won possession in midfield, strode forward and unleashed a powerful strike which Antell could only parry and Brindley was on hand to fire the ball into the net from close range.
Brindley was then booked for simulation then Antell did well to save his volley from the edge of the area as Dumbarton continued to press forward in search of a third which eventually arrived none minutes from time when Neill headed home Forbes’ free-kick at the back post.
The pair meet again in Dumbarton on Thursday night.
Edinburgh City: Antell, Thomson, McIntyre, Black, Brown, Handling, Jardine, Hamilton, Campbell, See, L. Henderson. Subs: Balatoni, B Henderson, Dishington, Goodfellow, Denham, De Vita, Harris
Dumbarton: Ramsbottom, McAllister, McGeever, Neill, Quitongo, Forbes, Carswell, Wedderburn, Brindley, Frizzell, Jones. Subs Barclay, Omar. Wallace, Duthie, Langan
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
