Clydebank 3
Albion Rovers 0
League (Division 2)

Match Report

The gap between the sides was greater than the score line shows. Disjointed Rovers couldn't match the mobility and high work rate of Clydebank, whose attack minded full-backs were as likely to score as the forwards.

Clydebank began the game attacking, finished it attacking, and did much the same during the intervening 90 minutes.

If anyone deserves a pat on the back it must be Alan Munro. He scored two of Clydebank's goals and was in the thick of the action. For the two he did manage to score he deserved a further half-dozen on each

From the Albion point of view, they started slowly and never really got into top gear. They looked almost indifferent in attack and suffered terribly, under almost constant pressure, in defence.

Keeper Brown was much to blame for this slackness. He blundered several dangerous balls and was to blame for at least two of the Clydebank goals.

At the other end of the field Mick McDonald was having a rather cold time of it, with nothing to do. He pulled off a few good saves when Albion managed to push in a shot, on the break, but for the greater part of the match he might have been just as useful, and far more comfortable, in the pavilion.

Young Jim Caskie, revelling in the fast conditions, played an excellent speculative game. In the 21st minute he took the ball up the left wing and crossed into Tommy McGhee. Although Brown reached McGhee's resultant shot, he couldn't stop it, and it bounced into the net.

As far as Albion were concerned this goal put Clydebank in an almost unassailable position.

In the 36th minute Munro came into his own. He met a Hay pass and headed it towards the Albion goal. 'Keeper Brown should have had this one, he dived on it but fumbled and allowed number two to roll over the line.

It was evident that tall Alan was making far better use of his height than he has done in the past, especially in meeting long wing crosses.

Early in the second half Albion brought on substitute Oliphant in place of inside-left Ferris.

Under pressure, around the 60-minute mark, Albion came off lucky when a Munro header, from a right-wing corner, came off the bar. Jim Caskie ran in and shot from the rebound but again the shot hit the woodwork and boomeranged back to him. Caskie shot again but 'keeper Brown finally managed to dive into the shot, blocking the ball and allowing it to be cleared from the goalmouth.

Ten minutes from time Munro hammered the final nail into the Albion coffin. From a Bobby Love free-kick he ran into the ball, which was almost hanging in mid-air, and snapshot in into the back of the Albion goal.

Referee Henderson disallowed what could have been Clydebank's fourth goal only a minute later. Tommy McGhee put the ball in the net from a Caskie corner and the crowd erupted, but there had been an infringement, and the goal was not to be.

How many supporters realise that Clydebank have not lost a game in the past month, most of you I suppose, but we've still got half a season to go, and the prospects look good!

Match report written by Oliver McGeachy (Clydebank Press)