Darren Dods takes his Brechin City side to the west coast to face The Championship’s only other part-time side, Dumbarton, at the quaintly named YOUR Radio 103FM Stadium in search of that elusive first win of the season. This midweek clash is the first in a double-header with the Sons of the Rock heading to Glebe Park at the weekend.

Having lost narrowly to The Sons on 2 previous occasions this season, it’s likely to be a much-changed City side which will take to the pitch with no fewer than 5 new faces vying for starting places since the teams last met. With Craig Storie joining the action from the substitutes bench in City’s last outing at St Mirren, it would be no surprise to see any or all of the new recruits in Darren Dods’ starting XI – namely the Callum(n)s of Tapping and Morrison, along with striker Dylan Mackin and defender Kosta Gadzhalov who has been given the all-clear to play from his parent club despite the late facial injury received on his City debut at the Paisley 2021 Stadium.

Whilst City’s disappointing points tally has been well documented, in the interest of balance it’s worth highlighting that Steve Aitkens men aren’t enjoying the best of form themselves. The hosts haven’t scored in any of their league games this year and, despite their impressive exploits in reaching the Irn Bru Cup Final, have scored only once in the 10 league games since a surprise 1-0 victory at runaway Championship leaders, St Mirren in early December.

Injuries ensure that City will be without skipper Paul McLean, Andy Jackson, Jordan Sinclair and long-term absentee Ryan McGeever. Recent postponements have deferred the suspensions hanging over defensive duo Willie Dyer and Aron Lynas who will also miss out – so that brings a total of no fewer than 6 missing players who, under other circumstances, could easily start the game.

The game will be refereed by Alan Newlands, taking charge of a City game for the fourth time this season. He was the man-in-the-middle for the 4-1 away defeats to both Dundee United and Morton, as well as the Betfred Cup defeat to Stirling Albion in July. Interestingly for those who like a statistic or two, he has seen fit to award 5 penalties in these games (one to City) all of which were converted.

Latest word from the hosts 24 hours in advance of kick-off, given that first team action was hosted on Saturday, was that the playing surface had been worked on by their groundstaff and would be again in the lead-up to the game. With no rain forecast, everyone concerned remains hopeful that both clubs can begin to catch up on the now lengthy fixtures backlog.