DUMBARTON boss Stevie Aitken hailed his ‘whipping boys’ after they inched closer to survival.

First-half goals from Sam Stanton and Robert Thomson were enough for victory after Stephen Dobbie’s opener in the Palmerston victory over Queen of the South.

And the win leaves the part-timers in seventh place on 38 points — five ahead of bottom side Ayr United and two in front of Raith Rovers and three points ahead of St Mirren with two games to go. Aitken was thrilled to have banked points ahead of next week’s late kick-off with Dundee United at Tannadice.

He said: “We wanted to be competitive and show people that Dumbarton have good players — even thought it is at a part-time level. At the start of the season I think some people saw us as the whipping boys in this league but we have to use that as a strength throughout the season. It’s three points and one more point might get us over the line.

“If someone said at the start of the season we would be seventh with two games to go, I might have paid a lot of money for that.

“We have a great spirit. They are only together for three hours a week and they train so hard.

“There is a great togetherness and I think that is important.”

Aitken singled out scorer Stanton after his stunning free kick put Dumbarton back on level terms before Thomson’s winner.

Stanton, on loan from Hibs until the end of the season, was outstanding from start to finish.

Aitken said: “I thought he was the best player on the pitch. You can see he has got a real talent.

“I don’t know what will happen at the end of the season because he is Hibs player.

“But he played a big part today and we are just lucky to have him at the moment.”