Scottish Premiership side St Mirren travel to League One outfit Dumbarton for their opening match of the League Cup group stages on Saturday afternoon.
The two teams last faced each other in this competition in July 2018, with the Saints comfortably winning 6-0 on home soil.
Match preview
Dumbarton head into the 2021-22 campaign after winning 3-2 on aggregate in the League One playoff final against Edinburgh City in May, which saw them avoid relegation to the fourth tier.
Despite keeping the Sons in League One, Jim Duffy decided to step down from his role as head coach, with Stranraer boss Stevie Farrell appointed as his replacement.
Farrell returns to Dumbarton having spent time with the club between May 2015 and January 2017 as an assistant under Stevie Aitken when they were in the Championship.
The 48-year-old is excited to be back at the Rock and is hoping to hit the ground running with a strong showing in the League Cup group stages.
Dumbarton have been eliminated at the group stage in each of the last five years, losing all four matches in last season's competition. Saturday's game against Premiership opposition will likely prove to be a difficult task, but Farrell is hoping his side can cause an upset.
© Reuters
St Mirren enjoyed an impressive campaign last season, completing their most successful Premiership campaign in over 30 years by finishing in seventh place with 45 points, their highest top-flight tally since 1925-26.
The Saints also reached two domestic cup semi-finals, losing 2-1 to eventual Scottish Cup winners St Johnstone and 1-0 to Livingston in the League Cup.
Manager Jim Goodwin can be proud of his team's achievements last season and he is now hoping they can kick on and improve further across all competitions.
St Mirren head into Saturday's clash with an impressive record against Dumbarton, winning four of their last five encounters against them by an aggregate score of 15-0.
The Saints are also unbeaten in their last seven League Cup group stages matches, and will fancy their chances of continuing this run at The Rock this weekend.
- W
- L
- L
- W
- D
- W
- W
- L
- L
- D
- D
- W
Team News
© Reuters
Dumbarton have recruited 12 players so far this summer and several of these are set to feature in Farrell's squad this weekend.
Right-back Carlo Pignatiello, centre-back Edin Lynch and left-back Paddy Boyle could all make their competitive debuts for the hosts in defence, while Kalvin Orsi is set to lead the line up front, supported by wingers Connor Duthie and Ross MacLean.
St Mirren boss Goodwin is set to stick with the 3-4-3 formation he used for much of last season, which could see captain Joe Shaughnessy, Richard Tait and Conor McCarthy all start in central defence.
Key midfielder Jamie McGrath – who scored 17 goals across all competitions last season – is set to start in central midfield, while new signings Scott Tanser and Curtis Main are also likely to feature in the first XI at left wing-back and up front respectively.
Dumbarton possible starting lineup:
Ramsbottom; Pignatiello, Lynch, McGreever, Buchanan, Boyle; Duthie, Carswell, McKee, MacLean; Orsi
St Mirren possible starting lineup:
Alnwick; Tait, Shaughnessy, McCarthy; Henderson, Power, McGrath, Erhahon, Tanser; Main, Brophy
We say: Dumbarton 0-2 St Mirren
Even though Dumbarton have kept clean sheets in each of their last three pre-season friendlies, we feel that St Mirren have the firepower in attack to cause them problems this weekend.
The Premiership quality of the visitors should shine through and a victory for Goodwin's men is expected at the Rock.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a St Mirren win with a probability of 59.55%. A draw had a probability of 24% and a win for Dumbarton had a probability of 16.44%.
The most likely scoreline for a St Mirren win was 0-1 with a probability of 14.9%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-2 (12.45%) and 1-2 (9.29%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.11%), while for a Dumbarton win it was 1-0 (6.65%). The actual scoreline of 0-3 was predicted with a 6.9% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that St Mirren would win this match.
