Championship featured game

Rangers meet Championship leaders Hearts at Ibrox on Friday night in front of the BT Sport cameras.

One football fan who will be tuning in to watch is Dumbarton skipper Andy Graham, who knows both sides well as he has played against them in the past fortnight.

The former Morton and Stirling Albion defender said: “We have had Rangers and then Hearts in our last two games and, although we have not picked up any points, they have been good games to play in. We know that we could have taken something from Ibrox instead of losing 3-1.

“It was a harsh final scoreline as we had a couple of chances in the first half and big Colin Nish was called offside when he was not at 2-1 down.

“I opened the scoring at Ibrox and it was my first goal there. It was great to score a goal in such a great setting and, while it ended up being meaningless and overall a disappointing day because of the result, it is always nice to score.

“I have scored against Rangers and Hibs and hopefully before the end of the season I can score against Hearts and complete the set against the ‘big three’ in the division.

“We took confidence from the Rangers game into the one against Hearts but, to be honest, we got a bit of a thumping. The conditions were a major factor in the result and I felt for the fans as there was simply not a spectacle because of the weather.

“We had drawn with Hearts earlier in the season but they were better last week and I was impressed, particularly with the wide men Sam Nicholson and Jamie Walker, who were terrific.

“It is a brilliant league to play in this season and I am glad that Dumbarton are part of it. It has made all the hard work to make sure we stayed in the Championship worthwhile.

“I will watch the Rangers v Hearts game on TV as I really enjoy watching the games from the Championship. They are usually good games to watch but they are good games to play in as well.”

On Saturday, Graham will be with the rest of the Dumbarton squad heading to Kirkcaldy to face Raith Rovers and he said: “In lots of ways this game matters a lot more than the ones against Hearts and Rangers.

“The results against the teams sitting around us in the league will determine how successful our season will be. We have been up to sixth but dropped to seventh now and want to get moving up the way again.”

Craig Stewart