Hebburn Town began their 2024/25 pre-season on Saturday with a heavy 6-1 home defeat at the hands of Scottish League One side Dumbarton in the Macron Cup.

New signing Michael Turner debuted from the start as Daniel Moore fielded a strong eleven, as did Liam Noble, who made his loan move from Morpeth Town permanent during the summer.

Understandably, it was a cagey start for the Hornets as they were far behind their opponents in terms of match fitness and sharpness.

The first chance of the game went the way of the visitors in the seventh minute. Craig McGuffie saw his effort well held by Kieran Hunter.

Dumbarton were then forced into an early change five minutes later, as McGuffie appeared to pull up with complaints over his ankle. The midfielder couldn’t continue and on came Kalvin Orsi.

Hebburn’s first opportunity of note came in the twentieth minute as Amar Purewal found himself in a good position on the edge of the area, but last season’s top goalscorer could only fire over.

The visitors started to gain control shortly after and they were ahead in the twenty-fifth minute through Carlo Pignatiello. James Hilton threaded a ball through the eye of a needle to Pignatiello and he found space to slot the ball under Hunter to give his side the lead.

The Hornets immediately looked for a response as a well-drilled effort from a trialist was deflected and went out of play for a corner. From the resulting corner, a Dumbarton defender rose first to head clear.

Another opportunity for the Hornets arrived on the half-hour mark as Noble’s delivery found the head of Purewal but the forward was unable to make a clean connection with the ball and the effort was no trouble for goalkeeper Brett Long.

The Sons doubled their advantage in the thirty-first minute of the game. Kalvin Orsi surged down the right-hand side, swung in an inviting cross and the ball fell straight to a trialist, who reacted the quickest and gave Dumbarton some breathing space.

Hebburn didn’t have time to dwell on conceding a second goal and found themselves on the attack straight from the restart, Liam Murray’s effort from distance seemed to be heading into the bottom-left corner of the goal but Long was there with an outstretched arm to deny him.

Dumbarton were then awarded a free-kick, five minutes before half time. Hilton stepped up and saw his effort saved comfortably by Hunter.

The Hornets were able to pull a goal back before the break as Purewal chested down a long ball from midfield and volleyed over the goalkeeper into the top corner. A deserved goal after an evenly contested first forty-five.

Dumbarton came firing out of the blocks in the second half and the hosts found themselves immediately on the back foot. Orsi continued to be a threat and pulled the ball back for a trialist, and his effort cannoned off the outside of the post. So close to a third goal for the visitors!

Triple changes came from both sides in the fifty-sixth minute. Firstly, for Hebburn; Moore, Robbie Spence and a trialist replaced Noble and two trialists. As for Dumbarton, Pignatiello, Hilton and Michael Miller were replaced by David Wilson, Finlay Gray and Matthew Shiels.

In the sixty-second minute, Dumbarton scored a third. A mistake from the trialist in the Hebburn goal as his loose pass fell straight to Wilson and unfortunately, the ‘keeper was lobbed from 35 yards.

The Sons then made more changes following the goal as Michael Ruth and Ryan Blair came on for a trialist and Mouhamed Niang.

Ruth made an instant impact from the bench as he headed in a fourth for Dumbarton at the back post.

Tired legs began to show for Hebburn towards the midway point in the second half and the visitors’ quality shone. Another flurry of changes came for the Son in the seventieth minute as Orsi, Cameron Clark and Aron Lynas were substituted for Panos Grivas, Greig Young and a trialist.

In a half that was mostly dominated by the visitors, Olly Martin tried to catch the Dumbarton ‘keeper off his line, but his effort sailed high and wide.

In the final five minutes of the match, Dumbarton capped their performance with another two goals in two minutes. Firstly, Ruth scored his second goal of the game as he slotted neatly past the goalkeeper, then he assisted Gray who rounded the 'keeper and tapped into the empty net.

The full-time whistle blew, and Dumbarton were crowned winners of the 2024 Macron Cup and lifted the trophy in front of their travelling fans.

Next up for Hebburn, they face Gateshead at the Sportsy on Tuesday night in what is expected to be another tough test.

Report by Dan Carlton