Sons boss Stevie Aitken was surprised by the penalty decision given against his side in their 1-0 loss to Hibernian on Saturday.

Gregor Buchanan was judged by the referee Greg Aitken to have pulled down Grant Holt in the box, and the Dumbarton manager said the striker “played the game.”

“It’s harsh, you see that all the time inside the box and outside the box, if it’s a player just trying to go and win it or it’s just a coming together, so it’s difficult to take,” the Sons boss said.

“He’s [Grant Holt] an experienced player, he’s played at the top level and you play at that sort of level because you know how to play the game.

“If it was on the other end I’d be screaming for it as well.

“But Lewis Stevenson turned his back and the Hibs players ran away – that kind of says they know themselves that it’s not a penalty.

“Two or three Hibs players ran away so I’m surprised they gave that. But it’s a great performance from my guys, to come up against a side that and compete like they did.

“We can take the positives from that moving forward.”

The visitors looked to close out the game, bringing on an extra defender to deal with Dumbarton’s increasing attacking pressure at the end. And the Sons manager said that was a credit to his side.

He added: “Towards the end Hibs changed it to bring a defender on and keeping the ball in the corner so that’s a wee bit of respect for our players, they can take a lot of heart from that today “Yes, Hibs had chances, yes they dominated most of the play but that is always going to be the case.

“Hibs have started the season great, they’ve recruited really well and you can see how good a side they are – the fact is it was the [penalty] decision that was the difference between the two teams.”