Sons must show they’ve grown up says Stephen Aitken

Dumbarton manager Stephen Aitken takes his Sons to Falkirk today looking for them to make up for his worst day since he became a Championship manager in the summer.

Stephen Aitken. Picture: SNS

The Sons lost 5-0 to a visiting Bairns side in their last meeting and Aitken wants his men to show that they have progressed since then.

He said: “We never gave ourselves a chance in that game as we gave away cheap goals. John Baird was given two one-on-ones with our goalkeeper in the first half and scored them both. Bob McHugh also got an easy goal before the break. We got the players in at half time and talked about the need to keep things tight. Within three minutes John had completed his hat-trick after another one-on-one. Falkirk were clinical that day and we know that we have to make things a lot harder for them if we are to do anything in this meeting.

“We were virtually a brand new team at the start of the season. We have matured since then but we know that this will be a test.”

He added: “Rangers and Hibs have been getting all the attention this season, however Falkirk have done really well. They have improved the longer the season has gone on and of course had a terrific win [over Rangers] last weekend.”

Raith Rovers ended a poor run with a last-gasp win at Morton last Friday night and have the chance to open up a healthy gap on Morton and Queen of the South when they face Alloa at Stark’s Park.

New St Mirren boss Alex Rae will look to make it two wins from two when his side host managerless Livingston, who will have David Hopkin in charge following the sacking of Mark Burchill.