Dumbarton

Dundee’s sacking of Neil McCann brought the number of departures in the SPFL to 12 but it is a number which shouldn’t be concerning, Joel Sked writes.

Dumbarton manager Stephen Aitken is the latest boss in Scotland to lose his job.

East Fife stunned Partick Thistle 2-1 at Bayview in the second round of the Irn-Bru Cup.

Christian Nade, who once scored for Sheffield United against Arsenal in the English Premier League, is set to join junior side Troon following his release from Dumbarton.

Scottish football isn’t short of grounds that stick in the memory for certain reasons. We’ve picked out 13 arenas with memorable quirks

Seeing as we’re well and truly into silly season, let’s celebrate the summer transfer window (truly the best part of being a football fan, if we’re being honest) by looking back at some of the more surprising transfer rumours from years gone by.

Five Betfred Cup group games will be shown live on BT Sport, two of them involving Hearts.

The first game to be screened will be Kilmarnock v St Mirren on Friday 13 July. Next up is Raith Rovers v Hearts on 21 July, with the game taking place at East Fife’s Bayview due to work at Stark’s Park.

Dundee v Dunfermline on 22 July is also live, as is Clyde v Motherwell on 28 July and Hearts’ v Inverness Caledonian Thistle the following day.

The Irn-Bru Cup will become a complete British and Irish affair after Uefa gave the SPFL approval
to include two teams from England’s Vanarama National League in next season’s knockout competition.

In deciding to say his farewells to Aberdeen, Daniel Harvie knows he may have to take a step back. But the hope is that it will afford him the platform to take two steps forward.

Hearts will be up against Tynecastle legend John Robertson in next season’s Betfred Cup after the draw for the group stage paired them with Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

Alloa left it late but they booked their place in the Championship with a 2-0 Play-Off final second leg success over a host Dumbarton side who led 1-0 after Wednesday night’s first meeting.

Dumbarton withstood a second-half bombardment by Arbroath to secure their place in the Championship play-off final against Alloa.

The first end-of-season managerial change has happened quickly, Morton and Jim Duffy parting company in the wake of Saturday’s 3-0 home defeat by Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

Dunfermline will go into their play-off encounter against Dundee United with burgeoning belief and the endorsement of Sir Alex Ferguson after sealing fourth place in the Championship with an assured victory over Dumbarton.

Falkirk eased to victory with a powerful second-half display as Dumbarton ran out of steam in their final home league fixture of the season, though they will be back at the Rock as they seek to retain their Championship status via the play-offs.

A Nathan Austin hat-trick helped resurgent Caley Thistle rout the struggling Sons in their biggest win of the season.

Second-bottom Dumbarton had to take the lead three times before they held on for victory and kept Dundee United sweating over a promotion play-off spot.

Dundee United brought a timely end to their Tannadice woes as they celebrated their first home league victory in three trying months. Csaba Laszlo’s side finally savoured that winning home feeling for the first time since sweeping past relegated Brechin 4-1 back on 2 January to breathe new life into their play-off hopes.