Dumbarton have all but secured their place in the Championship for another season after a 2-2 draw at Tannadice at the weekend.

The point means that Dumbarton are now three points ahead of Raith Rovers – and with a vastly superior goal difference – going into the final day of the season next weekend.

“It is the hardest Championship there has been,” said Sons boss Stevie Aitken.

“The fact that it looks as if we are safe, it is a real achievement. In January I couldn’t sign one player without letting other players go first.

“St Mirren were signing five and six players. They can do that, we can’t because we have to live within our means. If we get the result next week then it will be a great achievement.

“We knew we had to get at least a point from the next two games and I am chuffed that we came and done that.

“It has been a long season. We were tipped for regulation. We were the whipping boys and we have still kept the newspaper clippings. So it is a good feeling but we need to come next week and get the job done. We won’t get the recognition that the players deserve but you need to win stuff in Scotland to get that.

“Barring a disaster we will be safe now and that is a great achievement for us as a club.”

Tony Andreu opened the scoring for hosts United before Robert Thomson and Lewis Vaughan netted for Dumbarton. A late leveller from United’s Thomas Mikkelsen made sure that it was a share of the spoils, a point that is sufficient to keep Dumbarton up.