MATCH PREVIEW: Forfar Athletic v Dumbarton

The pre-season fixtures are over and the Scottish competitive season gets underway with it’s earliest ever start this weekend with the opening games in the group stages of the Betfred League Cup.

For Gary Bollan and his players Saturday will see them ‘lock horns’ with Championship outfit Dumbarton who will be making their first visit to Station Park since February of 2012 when the spoils were shared in a 1-1 draw.

Back to the present and the ‘Loons’ have a record of three wins and two draws from five pre-season outings, but more importantly the vast majority of the squad have gained valuable game time.

The new signings brought in by the management team have also had the opportunity to gel with their colleagues and Marc Scott apart, the remaining seven new faces are certain to feature at some point against the ‘Sons.’

One player missing from the home ranks will be Danny Denholm who has a one match suspension carried forward from last year’s competition, while defender Michael Kennedy is a major injury doubt.

A major plus to date this campaign has been the form of the Development squad players drafted in and again a few are likely to feature perhaps even in the starting line-up or on the bench come 3p.m. on Saturday.

According to their website Dumbarton boss Stephen Aitken is short of numbers for the trip north due to injury and other commitments.

However a side who have given Premiership opposition a run for their money on a couple of occasions in pre-season will provide stiff opposition for the homesters.

Five players have been recruited by the ‘Sons’ boss to date in the close season including prolific scorer Robert Thomson from our near neighbours Brechin City and Ryan Stevenson from Ayr. Stephen also went back to his former club Stranraer to secure the services of Craig Pettigrew and Andy Stirling.

One player who will definitely not be making a Station Park return in the visitor’s colours is their skipper Darren Barr. Injury rules out the defender who had a fruitful spell on loan with the Athies back in his Falkirk days.

Premiership outfit Dundee and League 2 sides Peterhead and East Fife make up a group which will provide an interesting to say the least test for the Forfar management and players over the next two weeks. Remember only the top team in each of the eight groups qualifying automatically for the knock-out stages of the competition, along with the four best runners-up.

The referee for Saturday’s clash is Lanarkshire based David Lowe who handled a couple of games at Station Park last term.

Admission charges are £12 adults, £6 concessions and a reminder that season tickets are not valid for this fixture.

Although there is no match sponsor for the game, club officials are delighted that three of the hospitality lounges will be occupied for this very early season encounter.

The 1984 Lounge opening hours revert to the normal match day routine for the game. Doors will be open from 12.30p.m. till kick-off and again on the final whistle till approximately 7.30p.m.