Falkirk 0 dumbarton 0

Bairns boss Paul Hartley has already turned his attention to next Sunday’s Scottish Cup quarter-final against Rangers after yesterday’s frustrating stalemate ended any lingering hopes his side might have had of sneaking into the promotion play-offs.

Following six wins in seven, Hartley’s team recorded their first draw of 2018, despite rattling the woodwork four times in the opening 38 minutes. They are now fully 10 points behind Dundee United in the final play-off spot.

Loan signing Alex Jakubiak had prevented a goalless draw with his 93rd-minute winner against Brechin last Saturday, but there were no stoppagetime heroics yesterday as Dumbarton held Falkirk for the third time this season.

“We hit the post and the crossbar four times in the first half, so we had enough chances to win the game,” sighed Hartley. “We should have won that game, but sometimes you begin to think it’s just not going to be your day.

“I’ve got to praise the players for their effort and application. We played the game on the front foot today, but we just couldn’t get that goal that we needed. We’ve never even spoken about getting into the play-offs, but it’s clear that we’ve made terrific progress since the end of December.

“Next week’s cup quarterfinal is a big game for us and our preparation starts now. Our preparation will have to be spot-on because we’re playing against a very good Rangers team. We’ll have a gameplan at Ibrox and hopefully we can carry it out.”

Sons manager Stevie Aitken also has cup glory in his sights when Dumbarton face Inverness in next month’s Challenge Cup Final, but avoiding a relegation play-off is equally important to him.

He explained: “We knew we couldn’t afford to lose today, but we came here and got a point, so we still have a chance to catch Falkirk and avoid a play-off.”