Andy Dowie: Dumbarton targeting instant return to Ladbrokes Championship
Published:
Dumbarton captain Andy Dowie believes the club are in a good position to return to the Ladbrokes Championship at the first attempt this season.
The Sons finished ninth last season and dropped into Ladbrokes League 1 after losing their play-off against Alloa Athletic.
The club have brought in several new faces this summer and started their season with a 2-0 win away to East Fife. Dowie believes the additions will help the existing core secure promotion.
He said: “Those of us who were involved last season have that extra motivation to get straight back up and we’ve got new lads who can help us do that.”
Dumbarton also lost the Challenge Cup final to Inverness Caledonian Thistle last season, which led to a difficult run of one win in eight.
Dowie admits that run cost them dearly, saying: “Losing the Challenge Cup Final knocked the stuffing out of us and also resulted in a backlog of fixtures.
“But we have no excuses. We weren’t good enough and we need to put that right this season.”
After getting over that setback, the 35-year-old is full of optimism about the season ahead.
“The manager has recruited well. He’s brought in players who have played in the Championship for the majority of their careers – guys like Rory Loy and Ross Forbes.
“You would hope that would help us. I’ve played in this league before with Ross County and we won it that year so I’ll be hoping to do that again this season.
“Andy Little could make a difference for us up front – but we have quite a lot of options this season when we didn’t have so many last year.”
All Odds and Markets correct as of date of publication
