Dunfermline twice had to come from behind to earn a share of the spoils at East End Park on Saturday afternoon.
The first half will go down as one of the most turgid many in attendance will have seen, with only Cammy Smith bothering the goal for the hosts although his goal-bound shot was well blocked by Andy Dowie.
The second half could not have been more different with the teams sharing four goals between them, one of them a goal of the season contender from Dumbarton sub Dmitris Froxylias.
Nicky Clark had the last word, though, as he pulled Dunfermline level with two minutes to go.
It was not enough to please the Pars marksman. “We need to win as many games as possible if we are to go on and win the league this year which is the ultimate aim and I’m disappointed probably with the performance more than anything today,” he said.
“We managed to scramble a point in the end but it’s definitely two points dropped.
“The only credit is we kept going when we lost two goals and we battled away and got the equaliser,” he added.
“We know we have not been right for the last few weeks. We spoke about it earlier in the dressing room and we just need to dig in. We are going through a spell that is not great but we need to stick together as a team and keep fighting and we will come out the other end of it, we know that.
“Every team will go through a spell during the season and it’s us just now.”
While there is a belief Dunfermline should be brushing aside teams like Dumbarton, particularly at home, that would be to take away from an organised and opportunistic performance by the visitors, who came to stifle the home men and then hit on the counter.
This looked to be working as they took the lead five minutes into the second half when striker Tom Walsh was given space to meander through the Pars back line and place home a 20-yard shot.
Dunfermline were quickly level when captain Callum Morris got on the end of a floated-in set-piece.
The hosts went looking for the win but were hit with a thunderbolt with 20 minutes to go as Froxylias burst down the right and unleashed an unstoppable curling effort from 25 yards that he will need to go some to better in his career.
The Pars weren’t to be denied as Clark popped up in the Dumbarton box to head home a Smith cross with time running out.
Overall this just masked a palpable sense of frustration among the home side and support.