Clydebank 3
Albion Rovers 5
League (Division 2)

Match Report

Things looked black for the Bankies until the last fifteen minutes and the fans were getting ready to go. With their down five goals to nil who would have blamed them then Tommy McGhee collected a ball in midfield round about the 75th minute and swept goalward; he let loose a thunderbolt shot which struck the opposing centre half and zoomed into the net.

The fans erupted with cheers of encouragement. Bankies now took command and two more goals through John Cummings and Tony Moy soon followed.

The latter’s goal was a beauty which keeper Moffat never saw and neither did I until the ball was in the back of the net – John Cumming sent over a flashing shot in front of the Rover goal – Tony Moy stuck out his head and that was that.

Not one fan left the park until the closing minute and no wonder. This is the Clydebank team they want to see all the time. Plenty of fight, plenty of enthusiasm. If Bankies had produced this form in some of their earlier games they might have at least shared the points.

I’m not going to offer any excuses about the way this game went earlier on, but Bankies have shown that they can do it. With a bit of patience from the fans and the knockers, they will make their impact of Scottish football.

No one expects a young inexperienced team to take the world by storm in their first season. Football is like anything else – a gradual process built up by learning from mistakes, hard graft from both players and staff, and one main ingredient – CONFIDENCE.

Playing ability of course comes into it in a large proportion but a team full of the best players in the world cannot hope to win without teamwork and this what Bankies at present striving for.

It would not be fair to leave Rovers out of this for after all they won this match. The fastest hat trick seen for a long time was produced by their young centre, Kenny Jenkins, in the following ties, 8,10 and 11 minutes. A remarkable feat! Two penalties in the second half seemed to clinch the matter.

Rover play strong fast style of football and they matched Bankies for speed and power. Their advantage lay in the fact that they chased every ball and were more powerful in the tackle. A dangerous forward line, backed by a good half-back line caused many a worry in the home defence.

They made the all too common mistake, however, of which a great many clubs are guilty. They relaxed too much when they had built up a good lead. In this game you can’t afford to take chances no matter how poor the opposition appears to be. Perhaps Rovers went away having learned their lesson on this.