Dumbarton2–1Connahs Quay Nomads

THIS was 119 minutes of long, hard slogging.

It was the 120th which lit up the afternoon.

As ways of marking your debut go, Dimitris Froxylias found a good one.

Having stood over a 20-yard free kick in the closing stages of extra time, he used it to score the goal against Connah's Quay Nomads that put Dumbarton in the last 16 of the Irn Bru Cup.

The added half hour came as a result of David Wilson's equaliser which cancelled out a Callum Morris penalty for the visitors.

You could not call the game a classic. It was scrappy and a battle which saw nine bookings — including two given to Nomad defender George Horan, resulting in a dismissal.

The second booking was for conceding the free kick which led to the winning goal.

The game will not live long in many people's memories — but for Froxylias, it was an inspired way to show why Sons took a chance on him earlier this week.

After less than two hours of football, he made himself a favourite.

In keeping with much of the afternoon, the game failed to have any early spark. The closest either team got was when Chris McLaughlin fired narrowly wide from distance for Sons.

But on 26 minutes, Stuart Carswell was careless while challenging for the ball with Michael Wilde in the area. Penalty it was and Morris made no mistake.

Sons struggled to respond and indeed were lucky not to be two down at half time following a counter attack. Ryan Wignall squared from the right for Matty Owen, but Craig Barr made a fine interception six yards from goal.

The second half saw more from the home side, and Christian Nade almost equalised in spectacular style, but the keeper pushed his overhead kick off target.

Although Dumbarton were in the contest much more, chances were hard to create against a side whose clear intention was to frustrate them.

Froxylias did have a free kick from 20 yards with 10 minutes left, but the keeper again turned the ball over.

However, from the resulting corner, the ball fell to Wilson who fired home through a crowd of players to level.

That meant extra time, but on 96 minutes Sons were only stopped from going behind again by Scott Gallacher's smart close range stop from Wilde after a free kick fell his way.

A penalty shootout was looking likely, but Horan then picked up his second yellow card for a foul on Nade 20 yards out.

This time Froxylias went lower with the free kick — and it paid off as his shot went in off the post.

For only the second time ever, Dumbarton had won twice in the same season in what is now the Irn Bru Cup.