Dundee United had an unhappy Hogmanay as their hopes of finishing the year as Championship leaders crashed against Dumbarton Rock.
For the second time this season, the Tangerines lost 1-0 to the Sons at the Cheaper Insurance Direct Stadium.
It was an absolutely terrible result on an utterly miserable day.
The man who scored the winner from the penalty spot for the hosts back in August, Mark Docherty, did the damage once again when he gave them the lead with a fluke of a cross on 27 minutes.
They all count, however, and the upshot is that instead of heading to Easter Road on Friday night at the top of the pile, United now trail Hibs by a point following the Edinburgh side’s victory at Falkirk.
The result also brought to an end their 14-match unbeaten run that started all the way back in September.
Now the rest of the week will be spent picking the players up after yet another Dumbarton disaster.
United had made two changes to the starting line-up that faced St Mirren on Christmas Eve.
The shock news was that there was no Tony Andreu in the team, while Charlie Telfer dropped down to the bench.
Into the side came Nick van der Velden and Stewart Murdoch, with the latter coming in for his first start since the loss to Morton at Cappielow on September 20.
That Betfred Cup tie in Greenock was, of course, the last time the Tangerines had tasted defeat in any competition.
United kicked off in 4-1-4-1 formation, with Murdoch markedly deeper than the other midfielders.
On four minutes they had a half-chance when Sean Dillon headed into the box to Blair Spittal, who would have been in on goal had his first touch been better.
On 10 minutes, the Sons raced upfield and weren’t far away when Sam Stanton let fly from 30 yards.
United were struggling in the wet and windy conditions and they fell behind on 27 minutes.
Once again it was Docherty who did the damage, floating a cross over from the left that was aimed at striker Garry Fleming. However, the number nine missed it and so did Tannadice keeper Cammy Bell and the ball bounced into the net.
Murdoch fired in a shot for the visitors on the half-hour mark but this was a flat performance from the Tangerines, who had to up their game to have any chance.
It was Dumbarton who had the next decent opportunity, though, with Joe Thomson volleying over on 39 minutes.
Sixty seconds later, only a spectacular save from home keeper Alan Martin kept out Willo Flood’s rocket shot from the edge of the box.
That was better from United and they actually had the ball in the net on 42 minutes when Simon Murray stabbed home a Dixon cutback but the ball had gone over the line before the full-back reached it.
The visitors pushed Van der Velden further up for the second half but things didn’t get much better as their attacks continued to fizzle out.
On 56 minutes, United came their closest yet to scoring when a Scott Fraser corner was flicked up by Mark Durnan’s boot and clipped the top of the Sons’ bar.
On 63 minutes, the Tangerines made a double switch, with Murray and Spittal making way for Cammy Smith and Tope Obadeyi.
With 72 minutes on the clock, sub Smith saw his shot deflected on to the top of the Dumbarton goal and United wasted the resultant corner.
A Fraser freekick from 25 yards flew over as the visitors tried to get level then Durnan headed a Dixon cross wide.
In a last throw of the dice, United pushed defender Durnan up front for the closing stages after bringing on Coll Donaldson for Fraser.
There was an almighty goalmouth scramble four minutes from time but United still couldn’t convert and William Edjenguele blasted over when the ball eventually came loose.
In the dying seconds, Obadeyi’s corner was headed on to the post by Durnan but it was to be one of those days for United.
If they are to fail to go up then they will look at these two defeats down at Dumbarton as a big part of the reason but now they have to regroup for Easter Road.
Dumbarton: Martin, Docherty, J. Thomson, Buchanan, Todd, Fleming (Stevenson 81), R. Thomson, Stanton, Harvie, Barr, Smith. Subs not used: Brown, Pettigrew, McCallum, Wright.
Dundee United: Bell, Dillon, Dixon, Durnan, Spittal (Obadeyi 63), Murdoch, Murray (C. Smith 63), Fraser (Donaldson 82), Edjenguele, Flood, Van der Velden. Subs not used: Zwick, Toshney,Telfer, Robson.
Referee: S. Finnie.