Clydebank 0
East Fife 1
League (Division 2)

Match Report

Bankies reshuffled their attack for last Saturday's home match against East Fife bringing back David Cooper on the left wing and introducing Jimmy Thompson for his first match of the season at centre.

Bankies won the toss and backed by a strong wind they piled on the pressure, faced with an eight-man defence.

The game developed into a dour struggle and only a great run and shot by Jim Fallon that struck the keeper's legs and went for a corner, gave the fans anything to cheer about.

McCallan headed a Gilmour cross narrowly past, midway through the first half but this apart there were few openings created by the home forwards. Nothing that Jimmy Thompson tried came off for him. Little was seen of Cooper and Gilmour was unfortunately his usual ineffective self. Indeed it seemed that if Bankies were to score, the man most likely to was Jim Fallon who was easily the sharpest player in the home side.

East Fife's main contribution to the first half was to continually boot the ball anywhere for safety which often resulted in it leaving the premises altogether. Rarely did they provide any constructive football and seldom was Jim Gallacher called upon to protect his goal.

Despite the wind at their backs East Fife continued their dour defensive tactics and Bankies tried their utmost to break through a strong defence. The homesters, try though they might, still lacked dig in attack and definitely missed the speed and aggressive running of Phil McGovern.

Joe McCallan, playing with the No. 7 shirt on his back, operated mainly to the left of the centre which left the attack looking rather lopsided as Gilmour had neither the speed, nor seemingly the inclination, to exploit the gaps down the right wing.

How Bankies supporters would love to see Davy (Sunshine) Mitchell on the overlap down that wing again. He is badly missed.

As is always likely to happen from a visiting team playing a defensive game, East Fife broke away in the 55th minute and scored what proved to be a very undeserved winner. McPhee flighted the ball into the area and Kinnear rose above Provan to head the ball strongly into the net.

Soon after this shock, Bankies replaced a struggling Thompson with Andy Roxburgh and they hammered away relentlessly at the visitors solid defence.

Luck however was not on their side as firstly a shot from Fallon was scrambled clear then Roxburgh failed to connect with a cross from about four yards out. Time after time crosses rained in on the Fifers. penalty area and were desperately cleared.

For all their efforts Bankies undoubtedly deserved the equaliser and it seemed that it must arrive when in the 80th minute Gilmour was right through with only the keeper to beat. What a chance for him to, at last, contribute something to the team effort. However, somehow he managed to steer the ball past the post. What a miss.

So in the end, East Fife managed to hold out for 90 minutes and snatched both points. It seems totally unfair that a team can play so unimaginatively and yet finish the game the winners. They won no friends on the terracing as they contributed nothing to entertain the fans.

Bankies ran and fought hard and deserved more than just sympathy that so much effort was to no avail. They were best served by Fallon, Fanning and Abel all of whom deserved to be on the winning side. John Gilmour however continues to be a big disappointment to the Clydebank supporters, A man of his experience should be a vital part of the team especially as he is team captain while Sammy Henderson is on the injured list.

However, he does nothing to inspire his colleagues with an apparent lack of fight and enthusiasm. Undoubtedly he is weak link in the side and I am sure that Henderson's return will take some of the weight off Ward White and particularly Jim Fallon who is being asked to do a lot of work at the moment.