Clydebank 1
Kilwinning Rgrs 3
League (West Region Premiership)

Match Report

The opening day of the league season, A cracking sunny day, and a large expectant crowd in the redeveloped Holm Park. What could go wrong? The answer was…everything!! To not put too fine a point on it, this was one of the worst Clydebank performances in years. There is nothing positive to take from this game whatsoever. The Bankies gifted an ordinary Kilwinning side three first half goals and then huffed and puffed in the second half as the Ayrshire men sat back and let Clydebank play sideways passes for most of the second period. The lack of urgency was astounding.

Going into this game the heart of the Bankies defence was missing with Darroch, Kennedy and Paterson all still on holiday. The defence looked makeshift on paper and it turned out that way on the pitch. A number of key decisions had to be made in attack with some of last season’s most influential players in the shape of Shelvey, McClair and Rowan having to settle for a place on the bench

The Bankies defence looked shaky right from the get go and lost a horror goal after just three minutes. A huge punt up the pitch was missed or let go by the Clydebank defence. Kilwinning danger man Carlo Monti followed the ball through and in splendid isolation rifled the ball high into the net.

Clydebank have been trying to play a patient build up game passing from the back, and pulling in the midfield duo of Black and Alexander to distribute the ball into further upfield positions. Neither of these two players seemed capable of playing a forward pass. This led to comfortable defending for Kilwinning as Clydebank looked pedestrian and obvious. Its fine keeping the ball, but there does have to be a purpose to it at some point. Today, it invariably ended up with a wayward pass to the opposition. I lost count today the amount of times that Nicky Little lost the rag as he tried to make a penetrating run into the channel only to find the pass was not forthcoming and the ball was stroked back across the field.

You have to be able to mix it up, and that was something Kilwinning were able to do. They went two up shortly after McLean replaced Vezza. A meaningful diagonal ball round Byrne’s blind side found Wilson who raced into the box and placed the ball beyond Waters.

At this stage the Bankies were inflicting wounds on themselves. Seconds after losing the goal McLean was short with a pass and Wilson pounced on it only for his shot to go wide of the post. Minutes later the post saved the Bankies as a sneaky near post free kick hit the outside of the goal frame with everyone expecting a cross.

Just minutes before the break it was Alexander’s turn to give the ball away with a woefully short pass which went straight to Lewis. The Kilwinning midfielder threaded the ball to Wilson who was denied with a brilliant stop by Waters.

The third goal did arrive in first half injury time when McWatters beat Coll on the left hand touchline. The Bankies defence then seemed to give up as the winger played it to Wilson. The striker’s shot was going way off target but when things are going wrong, they go wrong as the ball cannoned off of McLean and diverted into the net.

It was inevitable that changes were going to be made at the break and Shelvey and Rowan were introduced for Coll and Millar. The Bankies did play better in the second half, but Kilwinning did not need to stretch themselves. Protect the lead and take advantage on the break when the chances arise was the way to play and for the most part they did this well.

The Bankies did get into some decent positions but the propensity for hitting 35 yard shots was never going to work. It needed a calm head in the middle of the park and ballooning the ball ten feet over the bar was a sign of desperation.

It took until the last quarter before the Bankies properly troubled the Buffs defence. Nicky Little took it upon himself to beat almost the whole Kilwinning rearguard and was unlucky to see his shot from a tight angle hooked off the line. A goal was finally scored with nine minutes later, when McLean headed a Lynass corner into the net.

A grandstand finish could have been set up in the dying minutes when Munro, who had a quiet game, crossed from the right. Little met the ball with his head at the near post but was unfortunately off target.

It is easy with hindsight to say team selection was incorrect, but I thought Jordan Shelvey should have played from the start. Shelvey has proven himself over the last two years. His game is not just all about the goals. He has pace, wins the ball in the air and generally gives defences reasons for concern. This in turn opens the game up for Nicky Little. Aaron Millar did score a lot of goals in pre-season but he is an unknown quantity at this level and I believe Shelvey is the man in possession of the striker’s jersey and should have been given the nod. There was also a case to be made for Cammy McClair to have started, as it turned out Conor Lynass was quite ineffectual and was guilty of deserting the wide position too often leaving the defence with few options when looking for a forward pass. The defence itself should stabilise with the return of the holidaying players. This match has given the management some food for thought and they will need a quick response to this poor result

Match report written by Stuart McBay