Saturday’s 0-0 draw with Queen of the South at the Rock was the only point gained by the league’s bottom sides, while Cowdenbeath’s goal difference took a 10 goal hit after their 10-0 demolition by Hearts.

With a home tie against part-time rivals Alloa next week, Murray believes six more points will be enough to guarantee safety for Sons, he said: “That makes it a six point gap to Cowdenbeath and their goal difference has taken a battering as well.

“It was important to get something before the Alloa match. I’ve said it all along that it is very hard for the part-time teams in the league to get two wins in a row.

“If we can take four out of these two games, particularly with a win over a part-time rival at home it will go a long way to keeping us in the league. If we win next week I think another win in the next eight games will be enough for us.” Murray’s side have endured a poor run of results in 2015, a 3-3 draw away at Falkirk was the only point they had managed to register this year before Saturday.

After one of the worst Sons performances of the season in the 3-0 defeat to Hibs the previous week and with a generally poor record against Queens, anything other than a defeat would go down as a positive result for Dumbarton.

Murray was pleased with his players response to last week’s disappointment.

He said: “The performance was more important than the point for us. Even if we lost the game we had to show that bit of dig that we didn’t show last week.”