Girvan 1
Clydebank 1
League (Super Division One)

Match Report

Clydebank earned their first point of the season against one of the promotion favourites, Girvan at a windswept Hamilton Park this afternoon. With the Bankies squad down to the bare bones due to suspensions, injuries and call offs, the signs were not promising that a positive result could be achieved, especially on the back of three straight defeats. One piece of good news however, was the inclusion of new signing Barry Crawford in the starting line up, slotting into the troublesome left back spot.

Just as they had done against Renfrew the previous week the Bankies began in positive fashion. The Seasiders seemed to be taken aback by Clydebank’s fast start. After seven minutes, Barry Crawford almost made a dream start to his debut when he was presented with a free header in the box from a corner kick. Unfortunately he directed his header straight at Leavy who saved well.

A minute later and a neat Hailstones back heel flick gave Kilpatrick a sight of goal, but the Bankies front man lifted the ball just over the bar. Kilpatrick was almost in again after ten minutes after great build up play on the right wing, but again he was thwarted by Leavy.

Unlike last week when the Bankies couldn’t make the breakthrough despite making all the early running, this time the goal was scored. Again, the build up play was down the right wing and Mark Hailstones swung in a cross, that was glanced home by Gordon Moffat to give the Bankies the lead and the big defender his first goal for the club.

At this point it was looking good for the visitors, and it almost got even better a minute later when Dymock was put through on goal. Under pressure from a Girvan defender, Dymock fell to the ground, and despite a huge shout from the terracing the referee waved play on. Moments later and the Bankies split open the Girvan defence again down the right wing. Moffat played in Allum whose near post cross was met by Kilpatrick, but the ball was diverted for a corner. From the resultant set play, Dymock had the ball in the net, but the striker was correctly penalised for a foul by the referee.

After the first quarter of an hour, the match settled down and the story of the rest of the match was about Girvan slowly but surely clawing their way back into proceedings. The ever-dangerous Michael Moffat who had scored four goals in four games against the Bankies was first to get sight of the Bankies goal. However, this time his shot was deflected to safety.

As play continued, the home side were beginning to win the midfield battle. Moffat twice found himself in shooting positions, but the Bankies defence were able to block these efforts allowing Stefan Gonet to breathe easy. However, the Bankies could have extended the lead when Paul Allum threatened again down the right flank. Kilpatrick controlled his cross ball in the box, and as it dropped down Dymock snatched at the ball and it floated over the bar.

It took until a minute before the break for Girvan to finally get behind the Bankies defence when Love worked a delightful one two with Moffatt, but his first time shot at goal drifted past the far post. This was a warning shot across the bow, as Girvan came out after the restart in much the same way the Bankies did in the first period.

Straight away, Gilmour fired a shot over the top from 18 yards, and then moments later Stefan Gonet had to push away a back post header from Murphy after a fine cross by Cunningham. Clydebank were more and more looking to try and snatch a second goal on the break, and it almost came to fruition when Paul Allum again delivered a fantastic cross. This time it found Kilpatrick at the near post, but his control let him down as the ball spun off his foot and wide for a goal kick.

Ironically, it was Girvan who would score on the break from a Clydebank attack. The ball was quickly played up to Moffat around 30 yards from goal on the left-hand side. He still had all his work in front of him with two Bankies defenders to beat, however he set about this task by cutting inside outpacing Martin in the process. He then hit a reverse shot that was perfectly placed and beat Stefan Gonet on his right hand side. Moffat is proving to be a real thorn in the Bankies side as he added to his impressive tally against he club.

Bankies supporters feared that Girvan may now press on from here and go on to win the match. However, the Seasiders never really threatened the Bankies goal in any meaningful way again, despite seeing much more of the ball. In fact, the best two chances fell to the Bankies. Nikky Cairney came off the bench to make his 50th appearance for the club, and he set of on a mazy run inside the Girvan penalty box. He did well to turn the ball across the box to Paul Allum, but the ball came to his wrong foot and he ended up having a fresh air swipe and the chance was gone. Allum almost made amends for this when he fashioned a goal scoring chance when he played a neat one-two with Hailstones, but his first time shot curled just wide of the post.

Michael Moffat was to have the last chance of the match when shot well over the bar from distance, and the Bankies held on quite comfortably for a point. Going by past clashes, most would have regarded a point at Hamilton Park a decent result. After a spate of defeats it was important the Bankies dug in and came away with some kind of result. That was achieved, and the club must look to build on this again next week when Glenafton come to Holm Park.

Match report written by Stuart McBay