Aitken tears a strip off his Sons after Lions mauling
Stevie Aitken last night blasted his dismal Dumbarton side and reckons they are suffering from a cup final hangover.
Three goals in nine first-half minutes from Lee Miller, Ryan Hardie and Raffaele De Vita earned Livi an easy win.
Dumbarton, who had Aiden Wilson sent off late on, are now eight points adrift of eighth-placed Inverness and face a battle to stay up through the play-offs.
And boss Aitken insists his team, thrashed 5- 0 by leaders St Mirren on Tuesday night, must forget about their heartbreaking defeat to Caley Thistle in last week’s Irn-Bru Cup Final.
He said: “We looked like a team struggling for confidence when two weeks ago we would have taken on the world.
“It has been a disappointing week. I didn’t think the final would affect the players the way it did. You can look for excuses if you want but the reality is that wasn’t good enough. We never gave ourselves a chance when you look at the goals we lost. One or two players are starting to feel sorry for themselves.” Jack McMillan and Jackson Longridge went close for Livi who took the lead in 34 minutes when Miller’s shot proved too strong for Sons keeper Scott Gallacher. The Lions doubled their advantage two minutes later through Hardie’s delightful chip from 25 yards. And it was 3- 0 in 44 minutes when De Vita prodded home from six yards with the Dumbarton defence sleeping. Livi boss David Hopkin said: “The players were excellent but we should have scored a few more.”