St Mirren 0 - 1 Dumbarton: Garry Fleming is Sons' hero

When the footballing Gods conspire against you it seems like nothing will ever go your way.

Dumbarton's Garry Fleming (9) celebrates after he scores his side's goal. Picture: Roddy Scott/SNS

This is how St Mirren will be feeling, as not only did they lose a game they controlled from near start to finish, not only are they now anchored at the foot of the Championship, but they gift-wrapped Dumbarton the three points with an awful individual error.

Credit Dumbarton as they hung on in there and rode their luck, but if new Saints manager Jack Ross doubted the size of the mess he has inherited from the previous regime, then he will now know in no uncertain terms as his charges have now gone more than 200 days without a league win and face a long struggle to safety.

St Mirren would have loved an early breakthrough: what they didn’t need was to dominate and blow a host of good chances as John Sutton, who led the line tremendously, just could not convert a series of opportunities served up to him as the Buddies steamrollered Dumbarton with nothing tangible to show for their first-half efforts, with Lewis Morgan and starting debutant Kyle Magennis also coming agonisingly close.

Having spent the opening period by and large chasing shadows, the visitors could have been ahead straight from the restart when only Jamie Langfield’s save from Garry Fleming at point blank range denied Dumbarton.

If Langfield was the hero on this occasion he was absorbing the wrath of the home fans a little after the hour mark as he presented Dumbarton an opening goal out of nothing when he passed the ball straight to Joe Thomson, who squared for Fleming to tap into the empty goal.

Saints kept going and only an amazing Ryan Hardie miss denied them a point from a game they should have won.