JAMES FOWLER, the Queen of the South manager, was delighted to have navigated a tricky trip to Dumbarton to keep his side joint top of the Ladbrokes Championship after three games.

Following up from Tuesday’s loss at Queen’s Park in the Petrofac Training Cup, Stevie Aitken’s men couldn’t claim the three points to take them to three wins from three at the Cheaper Insurance Direct stadium, unlike their opponents.

After a tight first half the deadlock was eventually broken by Iain Russell who tapped in an Alex Harris cross, before Derek Lyle’s header with 22 minutes to go secured the points for the Dumfries side to keep up the pressure at the top of the table.

“It was a really good result and a really good performance,” said Fowler. “I felt we controlled the majority of the game and restricted Dumbarton.

“It’s possibly the best performance of the season so far because it’s not an easy place to go to and Dumbarton have had a great start themselves. They’ve beaten Hibs and St Mirren, so we knew it was going to be tough. But we are confident in our own group of players.”

One man who did not play any part in the match was former Dumbarton captain Andy Graham, who left the club by mutual consent on Saturday. Having previously been named players’ player of the year as well fans’ first choice, the defender has decided to leave the Rock for pastures new.

Aitken said: "Andy and I came to an agreement on his DFC career and I'd like to wish him all the very best for the future."

Elswhere in the Championship, Luke Leah and Will Vaulks cancelled out Danny Mullen’s leveller to give Falkirk a 2-1 win at Livingston, while three second-half strikes from James Craigen, Craig Whighton and Mark Stewart gave Raith Rovers a 3-0 home win over Alloa. That was after Morton and St Mirren played out a tense 0-0 Renfrewshire derby at Cappielow on Friday night.

In League One, Albion Rovers failed to garner their first win since the start of the Ladbrokes League One campaign opening day with a 1-0 defeat away to Cowdenbeath.

The damage was done early on for the Coatbridge side who conceded within the first two minutes, allowing Greig Spence to net his first goal for the Blue Brazil.

Table-topping Forfar continued their early surge with a 4-1 home hammering of Stenhousemuir with Danny Denholm (2), Kerr Hay and Michael Travis wiping out Jon Robertson’s consolation. Dunfermline missed the chance to stay joint top after a 2-1 reverse away at Peterhead, Stranraer won away at Ayr by the same scoreline and a 2-1 home loss for Brechin at the hands of Airdrionians keeps them rooted to the foot of the table with no points.

In League Two, it was mixed fortunes for the Glasgow teams as Queen’s Park rose to joint top of the standings after three games while Clyde suffered their second defeat in a row.

On the back of beating the Bully Wee last week and Dumbarton on cup duty on Tuesday, QP kept their run of good form going at Arbroath with a tight 2-1 victory.

It looked a comfortable afternoon’s work for the Spiders when Paul Woods put them ahead after just four minutes before Sean Burns added a second just three minutes after the restart.

But Joao Pereira Vitoria’s strike with just a minute to go ensured a nail-biting finish that would see the Hampden side hang on for the three points.

Meanwhile, it was a less productive day for Barry Ferguson’s men who went down 2-0 at Montrose to goals from Graham Webster and Gary Fraser.

In the remaining three games, East Fife stayed joint top of the league ahead of Motherwell’s League Cup visit tomorrow night with a 2-1 win over Elgin, East Stirlingshire put three beyond Annan with only one in reply and Stirling failed to move further away from bottom markers Arbroath as they slumped to a 3-1 defeat at Forthbank.