Troon 2
Clydebank 0
League (West Region Premiership)

Match Report

Clydebank’s season took another turn for the worse as they suffered a deflating defeat at struggling Troon to leave the club second bottom of the table without a win. Troon were gifted their two goals with the first being a needless penalty and the killer second a horrendous error by Jordan Kennedy. The Bankies seems to be in an inescapable downward spiral at the moment where it seems no matter what McAnespie tries it either doesn’t work or makes things worse. It’s difficult to see how he can turn the club’s fortunes around as things stand. Does he continue with the same players and formation and hope they can play themselves out of the predicament they find themselves in, or does he try something more radical to try and break free of the slump.

To quickly summarise the events at Portland Park, the Bankies had a strong wind at their backs in the first half, but could not use it to their advantage. The game’s opening goal after 14 minutes was the first real piece of goalmouth action. A corner was taken from the left hand side and the referee spotted what appeared to be a holding infringement in the box by Jamie Darroch, I believe. There didn’t seem to be a whole lot of complaining at the decision and Ryan Stevenson sent Waters the wrong way.

Possibly, a telling moment came in the 25th minute when Clydebank broke free on the left wing. Jordan Shelvey was supporting when he was cynically hacked down by Keenan off the ball. It was a double whammy for the Bankies as Keenan escaped with a yellow card and Shelvey only lasted two more minutes before having to go off.

Clydebank finally tested the Troon goalkeeper when Munro unleashed a vicious left foot shot from 25 yards that Johnstone did well to beat out. It should have been Troon though that scored the next goal when Jordan Kennedy over ran the ball and was disposessed. The ball threaded to Stevenson but a lack of composure saw him blast a fairly easy chance over the bar.

For the umpteenth time this season Clydebank made a tactical half time substitution. I usually like a pro-active manager who tries to affect the game rather than react to events when it is too late. However, this has happened so often recently that McAnespie either has no confidence in his starting eleven or he is getting it woefully wrong and is trying to rectify his mistake.

Clydebank did look a bit better early in the second half with substitute Hepburn firing a decent opening over the bar, but disaster struck after 56 minutes. A long ball was misjudged by Kennedy who let the ball bounce over his head. Pooler ran in on goal and put away the easiest of chances against a helpless Waters.

Clydebank immediately brought on Rowan, pushed Nicky Little up front, and finally started to make a game of it. Realistically the Bankies should have scored at least one goal but confidence seems to be at such a low ebb that chances that would previously been converted are now being missed. Nicky Little was probably the main offender as he put two headers wide of the goal that he would normally have gobbled up. Hepburn and Millar both had sight of goal and brought out saves from the Troon keeper but it was all too little too late.

Clydebank have now given Troon and Rossvale their only league wins this season, and Beith their only point. The optimism that was felt in the pre-season has now cascaded away. It looks like an onerous task to turn the situation around. This is reminiscent of 1991 when the Bankies went 12 games without a win and the malaise was even more entrenched. The Bankies finally broke the run thanks to a lucky own goal that brought a single goal victory over Brechin City, and went on to lose only one match in the next ten. Maybe, McAnespie needs a bit of luck to get a bit of belief in the players. More likely, he needs to look at the personnel and see if it is worth bringing back Paterson, Rowan and Vezza and whether a change in formation might bring a more positive reaction. For the first time in a long while there is discontent on the terracing and the answers need to be found soon.

Match report written by Stuart McBay