Stevie Aitken says that the real Dumbarton are now standing up and being counted in the Championship after they saw off the much-fancied Dundee United last weekend.

The Sons endured a miserable Betfred Cup campaign during the summer, before conceding four to Dunfermline to lose on the opening day of the league season.

With players returning from injury and suspension and new signings now bedding in, the Dumbarton boss is sure that the shutout against the Terrors will be far from a one-off.

He said: “I was delighted for the players and supporters because they had a rough time through the League Cup campaign, mainly due to injuries and not having certain players available.

“It wasn’t ideal preparation for the start of the season, but now we’re getting players back fitter and back from suspension you are seeing the result on the pitch through our performance.

“We were having to play guys like Frazer Wright – the old warhorse I call him – when he wasn’t fit just because we didn’t have anyone else.

“It wasn’t fair on him, and the defence at that point wasn’t strong enough.

“Now we have young Danny Harvie in from Aberdeen, Joe Thomson from Celtic and we’ve brought an experienced goalkeeper in from Hamilton in Alan Martin.

“We always knew it might take into August to get a settled team with the way the transfer market is, but now I think we’re starting to see the real Dumbarton.”