Clydebank 1
Troon 2
League (West Region Premiership)

Match Report

Clydebank slumped to their fifth defeat in six matches at home to lowly Troon by two goals to one in a rotten day for football if ever there was one. The rain battered down incessantly but that is no excuse as the relegation threatened Ayrshire side deservedly completed the league double over a miserable Bankies outfit. To put this defeat into perspective, Troon had lost all eight of their away matches in the league up until today and this victory – their second over the Bankies – was only their fourth overall.

It’s fair to say that Gordon Moffat shook it up today with the inclusion of new signing Craig Holmes from Cumbernauld Colts on the left wing, youngster Adam Smith in the middle, and Lynass, Hepburn, Vezza and Alexander all axed. It’s plain to see that Clydebank’s problems have been in the middle to front areas recently, so it was maybe a little odd to see Holmes take up the wide left position, with two others who have played all season as wingers in McClair and Munro also in the starting line up. This is possibly Moffat just seeking to find the formula to break the recent bad run of form.

Briefly to the match itself as my notes are more akin to pulp than anything legible. Troon started the much brighter of the two sides and almost took the lead after two minutes from a glancing header that drifted just wide. This was followed by a low near post corner which Keenan hit first time bringing out a superb point blank save from Waters.

Clydebank’s first effort at goal came after 11 minutes when a driving run from Smith saw him unleash a powerful shot from 25 yards that clipped the top of the crossbar.

The Bankies had two further lucky escapes before the home side took the lead against the run of play after fifteen minutes with as lucky a goal as you are likely to see. Goalkeeper Johnstone with the ball at his feet went to clear the ball upfield but somehow managed to clatter it off the back of the unaware Nicky Little and it spun back and rolled into the net.

The Bankies enjoyed their best spell after the goal but didn’t look like they had the wherewithal to get behind the well marshalled Troon defence. It was during this spell that Troon drew level with a simple and disappointing goal from a Clydebank perspective. It was just before the half hour that an innocuous enough looking pass was played low into the box to Chatham. The midfielder suddenly appeared to have all the time in the world as he took one touch and drilled the ball past Waters from a tight angle unchallenged.

This turned the match in Troon’s favour and it was no real surprise when they took the lead after 52 minutes. A cross from the right was headed against the inside of the upright and the ball was weakly cleared straight to Stevenson just inside the box. The veteran composed himself and side footed the ball into the net through a ruck of players.

To be perfectly honest, Troon could have ran up four or five goals after this if it wasn’t for Marc Waters. He made umpteen very good saves to keep the Bankies in the game.

Clydebank hardly threatened at all though one clever move almost led to an equaliser when Chris Black lifted the ball over the top of the Troon defence for Nicky Little to hit on the turn. However, Johnstone was alert and made a fine save at his near post.

Substitutions made no difference to the pattern of play as Troon always looked the more likely to add to their lead. In a miserable day for the supporters, there was quite a bit of booing at the final whistle and to make matters worse it looked like Michael Bailey received a red card after getting involved with pantomime villain Dean Keenan.

Gordon Moffat has got a real problem on his hands now. Today’s performance just underlined the need for a new striker. We really need to get Nicky Little out of that position. His form hasn’t been great anyway and he looks a bit like a fish out of water leading the line. Unfortunately, there are not too many other obvious answers in the squad. It is compounded with Munro, Lynass and McClair all being off form as well. There is nothing happening in a creative sense and the goal we scored was a bit of a fluke. We are also being over run in the middle of the park and, it was a bold move playing Smith from the start. However, it is a substantial step up from the youth side to playing against seasoned veterans and it showed today.

It was hoped that today was the day to break the run of bad results against a team sitting in the bottom three, however it was the Bankies who looked like the relegation candidates. The next run of matches would be classed more in the winnable category and points need to be gathered to avoid being dragged into the dog fight at the bottom of the table

Match report written by Stuart McBay