Clydebank 3
Raith Rovers 1
League (Division 2)

Match Report

Variety they say is the spice of life and at Kilbowie Park on Tuesday night we were given one of the spiciest offerings of the season. There were good parts, there were bad parts. Some parts were brilliant, some indifferent.

The first-half comes under the last heading: indifferent.

Clydebank were as nervous and unsure at the back as they have ever been in a long while and the visiting Fifers were often willing to cash in on this. . . . Although not always successfully.

Two minutes after McGuire put the ball past the post from the penalty spot - his first such miss in two seasons for Raith - Robertson put the visitors ahead. As Jim Fallon and Mick McDonald decided that the other would get to a long pass into the box, Robertson nipped in between both of them and poked the ball into the net.

Bankies new boy Drew Harvey almost grabbed the equaliser five minutes later when he got his head to an a Currie corner but the ball went over the bar.

Raith's danger-man, centre-forward Gordon Wallace, had a shot cleared off the line by Bobby Love with the home defence nowhere.

Fallon redeemed himself for his earlier lapse when he equalised in the 25th minute. Jim McPaul was floored in the box by centre-half Staite and Fallon made no mistake with his kick.

This goal settled the Bankies a little and they began to hit back. However they reserved most of their best form for the second half. Within six minutes of the re-start, Clydebank were ahead.

A cross from the left from Alan Munro found Currie at the edge of the penalty box and the winger took the ball first-time to crash an unsaveable shot past McDermott.

Fallon let his centre-forward urges take control for a time in the 58th minute when he hit a great shot which beat the goalkeeper no bother-but came off the post.

Dougie Hay started the move that led to the third goal with a cute little back header to Davie Mitchell, The full-back sent the ball up the wing to Harvey who in turn sent it inside to McPaul. The centre wasted no time in racing towards the edge of the box before sending a low and hard shot into the corner of the net.

The biggest cheer of the night came when Dennis Ruddy came on as substitute for Harvey. Making his first appearance after that infamous nine week suspension, big Dennis took up position in the middle of the field and not in his customary back-line spot. Almost immediately, Raith brought on Jamieson for Scott.

A quick burst of speed saw Fallon shrug off the Raith defence with the ball but the opportunity was wasted when the centre-half duffed his shot.