By the end of October, Dumbarton had one win to show for 13 league matches, and had sunk to second bottom place, resulting in Fallon's resignation.
Within a week Ian Wallace, one of the club's brightest stars of the 1970s, had been installed and things began to take a turn for the better.
Three wins on the trot in November saw Wallace named as Second Division manager of the month, but it wasn't to last.
Results began again to go downhill, but even with three games left it was within Dumbarton's own hands whether a second successive relegation would occur.
Finally, in the Challenge Cup, it was a seventh first round defeat in seven attempts – this time to Montrose.