Clydebank 0
Kilbirnie Lade 2
West of Scotland Cup (3rd Round)

Match Report

Clydebank's run of games without a victory was extended to ten matches, as they were brushed aside by a Kilbirnie side who barely needed to get out of second gear. Confidence is at such a low ebb that it took 87 minutes for the Bankies to muster a shot on target.

With the league position perilous, the cup has taken on a low priority. To this end, Budgie McGhie experimented with the side, changing the defence completely, and giving first starts to Jordan and Proctor.

Kilbirnie were first to make a goalscoring opportunity after 8 minutes, when Struther stretched to divert a cross goalbound, but the ball was easily saved by Gonet.

In reply, Craig prodded the ball in the path of Jack who hit the ball first time on the bounce, however it went just wide of the Blasties goal

Then came a spell of five chances for Kilbirnie in five minutes. The first should have been a goal as Erskine shot past Gonet, however Barry Docherty made a wonderful goal line clearance to keep the score level.

Over the course of the next few minutes, the Bankies somehow kept their goal intact despite efforts from Smith, Miller and Anderson.

Clydebank had a decent spell midway through the half, as Alan Jack was pulling the strings in the midfield. Firstly, a superb delivery from a free kick was almost touched home by Craig. Then, the midfield maestro had a long distance effort go wide. The best opportunity was from a corner that Jack fizzed in with his left foot. It almost went straight in, and if Lennox had made any contct at the front post it would surely have been a goal.

The old frailties came back to haunt the Bankies, however. After forty minutes, the defence could not clear the ball properly, and it was picked up by Miller who turned and swung his leg at the ball. He couldn't have hit it any better as the ball flew into the bottom corner giving Gonet no chance.

Right on the half time whistle the Blasties went two up. In a goal that can only be described as a complete disaster, Jordan played an ill-thought out pass back to Gonet who with no time to control the ball was dispossessed by Kinney. Despite desperate attempts to retrieve the situation, the striker stabbed the ball into the net.

It was hard to see how the Bankies were going to fight back from the two goal deficit, and as the second period begun the visitors went looking for a killer third goal

Gray, who had only been on the park for ten seconds cut through the Bankies defence to set up Struthers, but he sliced his shot wide. Then Harvey knocked a short free kick to Gray who shot over from 25 yards.

A Jordan volley over the bar brought a brief respite for the Bankies, before Erskine and Harvey came close for Kilbirnie at the other end.

With twenty minutes remaining, Erskine had two fine chance to seal it. Firstly, a neat Kilbirnie move saw Erskine cut inside from the left and toe poke the ball to Gonet's near post. The Bankies stopper was alert and saved well.

Straight after, Fisher miscued his headed clearance, and the ball floated across the box where Erskine was waiting. He volleyed it cleanly, however Gonet was well postioned to save again.

The Bankies briefly rallied after this, and Fisher half-volleyed the ball over the bar.

Kilbirnie had a penalty claim turned down with 8 minutes remaining, as Kinney appeared to fouled in the box by Sutherland, however the ref judged that the defender had made contact with the ball first.

Substitute, Rankin, almost scored after working a nice one-two, before the Bankies finally had a shot on-target. Lappin deftly chipped the ball beyond the Kilbirnie defence to Fisher, who shot from just inside the box. Unfortunately the ball clipped the outside of the post and bounced to safety, and the cup was over for another year.

It's hard to be positive after a game that failed to bring out one single save in the opposition keeper, and continues the Bankies desperate run of results. The next two matches are against the two sides shooting it out for the remaining promotion slot, so anything taken from these matches now needs to be seen as a bonus, before the Bankies face the crunch matches against their fellow relegation rivals.