FOLLOW US ON TWITTER | FACEBOOK
Dumbarton playmaker Sam Stanton admits this afternoon’s crunch relegation battle against Ayr United is now huge.
The Sons go into the Somerset Park clash just three points ahead of Ayr although the Honest Men, who occupy the play-off place at the basement, have a game in hand.
Despite an encouraging run of just one defeat in seven league games, which includes last weekend’s hard fought 2-2 draw at leaders Hibs, Stevie Aitken’s side have not been able to detach themselves from the sides at the basement.
St Mirren and Ayr both collected much-needed victories last Saturday and Stanton, who is on loan from Hibs, admits the Sons are well aware of the importance of today’s encounter.
He said: “It’s a six pointer, as people call it – it makes it massive.
“It was a massive game anyway regardless of the scores last weekend but now it’s a wee bit bigger than it was before.
“We’ve got a three point lead and it’s important we get something from the game.
“The worst thing would obviously be a defeat, we need something from the game and everyone knows that.
“As a team we know how big it is for us to get at least a point, although we’ll go there and try and win the game.
“We’ve been winning quite a few games, we’ve been picking up points most weeks and have not lost many games but it’s been hard for ourselves to get away from other teams at the bottom.
“It shows the form of the other teams down there as well.”
SPFL rules meant Stanton had to watch last weekend’s clash against his parent club from the sidelines but the 22-year-old, who has made 20 appearances since joining last September, insists his time with the part-timers has helped rebuild his confidence.
He said: “It’s been great to get a full season playing games again, from almost the start of the season.
“I’ve played a lot and it’s great to be back. It’s been good for me to build form and get back to what I was doing before so I’ve enjoyed it, it’s been great.
“When you’re not playing it’s not hard not to feel your confidence go but that comes with playing and I’ve been doing that this year so that’s great.”
