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East Fife 2
Clydebank 0
League (Division 2)

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East Fife 

2 - 0

Clydebank

League (Division 2)
Saturday, October 17th, 1970
Bayview Park. Att. 3,029
3:00 PM Kick-off

Goalscorers
Billy McPhee (78)
Billy McPhee (80) 		None.

Team Managers
Bill Baxter Jack Steedman

Starting Eleven
1 Dave Gorman
2 David Clarke
3 Peter McQuade
4 Rab Cairns
5 John Martis
6 Walter Borthwick
7 Bertie Miller
8 Pat Quinn
9 Jim Finlayson
10 Graham Honeyman
11 Billy McPhee 		Mike McDonald 1
Davie Mitchell 2
Danny Gray 3
Dennis Ruddy 4
Jim Fallon 5
Dougie Hay 6
Jimmy Wilson 7
Bobby Love 8
Mike Jackson 9
Alan Munro 10
Jimmy Caskie 11

Bench
12 Brian McNicholl Norrie Hall 12

Substitutions
None. Norrie Hall for Bobby Love (81)

Cautions
John Martis (38) Mike Jackson (42)

Red Cards
None. None.

Match Officials

John Grant (Referee)
G Bennie & JV Boardman (Assistants)




Match Report

Sunday Post

East Fife made the running in the first half and for most of the second in a somewhat scrappy game.

Well into the second half the home fans must have wondered when the goals were going to come, after a series of promising moves floundered with poor finishing.

Then, as the game was wandering towards its close, the left foot of ex-Ranger Billy McPhee made amends, first with a 20-yarder from a Quinn pass, then a 35-yarder right out of the blue.

Clydebank were pinned down for most of the match, and only looked dangerous on the break. Caskie was a menace on the left flank, and Ruddy and Hay a tower of strength in midfield.

For East Fife, Walter Borthwick had a commanding game, with veteran John Martis solid as a pivot, although he was booked in the first half, as was Jackson, of Clydebank.

Leven Mail

Billy McPhee has a fool-proof plan to win friends and influence people. He merely has to lash out with that phenomenal left boot of his to have us eating out of his hand. The young master showed us how again on Saturday with two of the most electrifying shots that the Bayview nets have had to restrain this season.

They had the effect of a double whisky on a cold winter night and transformed the park into a kind of verdant El Dorado where the faithful were prepared to live happily ever after.

Billy powered both goals home within three minutes of each other, deep into a second half that had been devoid of crowd-pleasing football, and the home fans peered happily through rose-tinted spectacles for the remaining 12 minutes.

But if they reluctantly decided to cast aside the spectacles later in the evening and thought back to the events of the afternoon they could honestly liken Billy's ego-boosting double to a firework on a night-time skyline.

For it had been a nervous Fife side that had trooped on to the Bayview turf in their new forget about Hampden' strips at 2.55.

And they continued to look like a nervous side, particularly in the first half when Clydebank expended much of their Spring-like exuberance challenging, harassing and, forcing several hasty mis-timed clearances from the Methil defenders.

Inspired by Mike Jackson and their penetrating wingers Caskie and Wilson, Clydebank set the home team's nerve on edge on several occasions in both the first and second halves but an appalling inefficiency in the goalmouth rendered all their efforts fruitless.

Caskie, especially, will have been tormenting himself thinking what might have been, for on three occasions all he had to do was pick a spot past Gorman, who justified his salary with several acrobatic saves.

Clydebank's left-winger almost altered the course of the game after only two minutes when he spurted down the wing, danced past a pair of Fife defenders, and finished with an angled shot which the 'keeper could only parry. Munro pounced on the rebound but his shot, from only yards out, was unbelievably weak and Walter Borthwick, adopting a 'they shall not pass' stance on the goal-line, cleared the danger.

Four minutes later, Bertie Miller, the most ambitious home forward in the first half, sped past two Clydebank men and looped a dangerous hanging cross into the box. But again the chance was lost. Honeyman leapt above the defence to connect but his timing was just fractionally out.

In the 23rd minute Clydebank surged forward once more and their left-half, Hay, inspired a diving save at full-stretch from Dave Gorman with a well-placed 20-yarder.

Caskie bore through the East Fife defence again only two minutes later and Gorman was left to stifle the danger.

When East Fife took possession from the clearance they forced their way into the opposition's half and began to look as if they had finally managed to shake off their stage fright. John Martis darted a perfect header at goal from a McPhee cross in the 32nd minute but the visitors' 'keeper, McDonald, brought off a timely save under the bar.

But McDonald never looked like even touching the shot that left Borthwick's boot two minutes later. He unleashed a scorching 20-yarder at goal after carrying the ball from his own half, but the ball shook the crossbar and was headed past for corner by a desperate Bankie defender.

As East Fife started asserting themselves as the dominating attacking force the game began to lose its genteel air. Martis was booked for a late tackle on Hay in the 38th minute. and four minutes later his name was joined in the book by Jackson's, who was disciplined for showing dissent.

Neither side looked capable of scoring after referee Grant re-started the game. For almost ten minutes they were bogged down by colourless midfield play but then along came Pat Quinn. He lofted a delicate chip on to the head of Honeyman but the youngster nodded just over. Barely a minute later Cairns made a determined attempt to give his side the lead with an accurate 20-yard try which was deftly clutched by the 'keeper at his right-hand post.

These narrow escapes frightened Clydebank into an attacking role and Caskie was thwarted by a brilliant twisting save by Gorman. The visitors came even closer to scoring in the 65th minute. Wilson shook off the attentions of his shadowers ten yards out but, confronted with an open goal, he somehow managed to screw the ball round the upright.

Determined not to disappoint the Bayview terracing Fife immediately forced the Bankies back on the defensive. Bertie Miller had a shot stopped on the goal-line and Quinn saw his 25-yard effort bend frustratingly wide of goal.

But if Quinn was disappointed with that shot in the 74th minute the feeling didn't last long. Sixty seconds later he pushed the ball to Billy McPhee and the left-winger almost succeeded in bursting the net with a 20-yard goal which turned an apparent goalless draw into a victory.

That one goal would have ensured that the fans made a jovial exit from the ground but three minutes later he latched on to a loose ball in roughly the same position and thundered home another to make it even easier to forget his lustreless first half performance.

The remainder of the game was merely a pleasant anti-climax. The match could, theoretically, have been lost in this time, but everyone knew it wouldn't be. Another two points had been secured. East Fife had maintained their position at the top of the table and the only other thing worth knowing was how their challengers had fared.



Squad Statistics (as at October 17th, 1970)

1970-71 All Time
League Cups All
Mike McDonald (GK) 10 - 6 - 46 -
Danny Gray 10 - 5 - 64 -
Jim Fallon 10162927
Jimmy Wilson 3 - 0 - 3 -
Davie Mitchell 10 - 611685
Dennis Ruddy 10 - 6 - 98 -
Dougie Hay 826 - 1054
Bobby Love 10 - 6 - 832
Alan Munro 106629241
Mike Jackson 6 - 4 - 10 -
Jimmy Caskie 1036410537
Norrie Hall (sub) 1 - 0 - 1 -







Recent Results

League results since Clydebank's last match
17th October 1970
Arbroath3-1Stranraer
Berwick Rangers1-2Albion Rovers
Brechin City1-0Partick Th
Dumbarton2-0Raith Rovers
East Fife2-0Clydebank
East Stirlingshire1-1Alloa Athletic
Queen of the South2-0Forfar Ath
Stenhousemuir0-1Queen's Park
Stirling Albion0-1Montrose

League Table (as at October 17th, 1970)

Pld W D L +/- Pts
1. East Fife 11 7 3 1 +15 17
2. Albion Rovers 11 6 4 1 +10 16
3. Arbroath 11 6 3 2 +11 15
4. Montrose 12 6 1 5 +3 13
5. Alloa Athletic 10 5 2 3 +6 12
6. Queen's Park 11 5 2 4 -6 12
7. Partick Th 9 4 3 2 +12 11
8. Dumbarton 10 4 3 3 +6 11
9. Clydebank 10 5 1 4 +1 11
10. Queen of the South 11 4 3 4 -2 11
11. Forfar Ath 11 3 5 3 -5 11
12. Stirling Albion 10 3 4 3 +8 10
13. Stranraer 10 4 2 4 +4 10
14. Raith Rovers 11 3 4 4 -7 10
15. Stenhousemuir 12 3 3 6 -10 9
16. East Stirlingshire 12 1 4 7 -17 6
17. Hamilton Accies 9 2 1 6 -8 5
18. Berwick Rangers 9 2 1 6 -10 5
19. Brechin City 10 2 1 7 -11 5