Petrie’s joy as Gable Endies move on up

Montrose manager Stewart Petrie was a happy man as a win over Dumbarton took his side off bottom spot in League One.

The Links Park gaffer is keeping his feet firmly on the ground, however, and his tongue-in-cheek response to being told that his side were up to sixth was “that will be me in a job for another week”.

A Graham Webster strike in 53 minutes gave Montrose victory and Petrie said: “It was a fabulous goal and worthy of winning any game.

“We were backs to the wall at the end, but that wasn’t surprising when you see the quality Dumbarton have in their team.

“They were able to bring on strikers who have played in the Premier League, but we came away with a clean sheet.

“We restricted them to very few clear-cut chances. We defended well and won our headers.

“It was one of our best performances of the season. I have been asking for a clean sheet for a while and we were very disciplined.

“Dumbarton are a good side and they will not be down at the bottom for long.

“The win has taken us off the bottom and that is deserved. It is a very tight league and a couple of wins can take you right up the table.”

Dumbarton had the first chance on 23 minutes when a Calum Gallagher header was saved by Jordan Millar.

On 27 minutes, Iain Russell was left with the keeper to beat but Millar spread himself superbly to save.

Montrose had their first chance on 34 minutes. Craig Johnston had a shot blocked and a follow-up overhead-kick from Martin Rennie went just wide.

Montrose lost Chris Antoniazzi with a head knock just before the break. His replacement, Webster, almost scored with his first touch but shot just wide.

Montrose opened the scoring when Andy Steeves went on a surging run down the left and his cross to the far post was fired home on the half-volley by Webster.

On 67 minutes, another Steeves cross dipped just over.

Dumbarton had lots of the ball in the second half but Montrose held firm. Their former player Cammy Ballantyne went closest to scoring on 84 minutes with an effort which just cleared the bar.

A minute from time, Montrose nearly added a second when Euan Henderson crossed for Patrick Cregg to have a shot saved by Chris Smith.