AS the pressure hots up at the bottom of the SPFL Championship, Dumbarton boss Stevie Aitken is adamant he would have been delighted with his side’s position if it was offered to him back in August.

After Sons 6-0 thumping at Queen of the South last time out and Livingston's shock 2-1 win at Falkirk on Saturday, fans would be forgiven for having concerns about the run-in.

With seven games left of the season, Sons are two points clear of Livingston,who occupy the relegation play-off spot, and 15 clear of an all-but-doomed Alloa.

Livi can go above Sons this weekend when they host Alloa while Sons are at home to Morton, however Sons have a game in hand on the West Lothian side. Despite it looking like a tense finish Aitken insists he would have been happy to settle for this situation when he took over from Ian Murray last summer.

He said: “I think being one of only two part-time teams in the league, if I was offered the position we’re in just now before the season started, I would’ve bitten your hand off.

“To be 15 points clear of Alloa and two points clear of Livingston, we’re in a good position. We just have to make sure we bounce back from the Queens result quickly.”

Sons had a free weekend as Hibs asked for a postponement of the teams’ clash at Easter Road due to international call ups.

Aitken conceded it is a far from ideal situation for his squad. With the game being moved to the last week of the season, his part-timers will face three potentially crucial games in a week.

It is not the first time Sons have fallen foul of the call-up rule. Rangers postponed a tie with Sons earlier in the season after four of their players were named in international squads, although only one was a regular in the team.

The Sons boss believes the rule favours bigger clubs who carry larger squads and the Hibs tie will cause his part-timers problems at a potentially crucial point in the season.

He said: “Ideally, we would like a game to get back on the horse. It might work in our favour, we have the chance to get Mark Docherty and Jon Routledge back to fitness after they finished their suspensions. We should have a full squad for Saturday.

“Rules are rules so you can’t blame clubs for using them to their advantage. But I think maybe they have to be looked at. We had it earlier with Rangers, when they had four players away but three of them hardly played for them.

“It certainly doesn’t favour us to play three times in the last week of the season.”