Rossvale 1
Clydebank 2
League (West Region Premiership)

Match Report

Clydebank climbed up to fourth position in the league as they ground out a hard fought for 2-1 victory over Rossvale at New Tinto Park. The result extended the unbeaten run to five, and the players have now only suffered defeat in one of their last eight league outings. Had the disastrous run of five consecutive defeats in November/December even been mitigated just a little bit then the picture could have been much more promising.

In yet another grim day in terms of the weather that saw most matches postponed, Gordon Moffat opted to go with the same starting elven that defeated Benburb a couple of weeks ago.

Rossvale played the Bankies off the park in the earlier meeting between the sides back in August, and they will feel that they did enough in this game to earn at least a point. They went in at the interval a goal behind and it was definitely against the run of play.

The problem Rossvale had in the first half hour of the match was that they didn’t really trouble the Clydebank goal despite having the bulk of the possession. McGonigle had an easily saved 25 yard effort after 21 minutes, and ex-Bankie Sean Higgins tried an overhead kick that didn’t get Marc Waters in the Bankies overly concerned.

The Bankies were just as unproductive, with an early Craig Holmes shot that slipped past the post about the best they could muster in the opening thirty minutes. Then ten minutes before the break the Bankies took a surprise lead. Cammy McClair found himself with the ball wide on the right hand side. He sand wedged the ball over the defender towards the near post for Nicky Little who ran across the defender and glanced the ball perfectly into far corner.

The Bankies were clearly lifted by the goal and ended the half much stronger. They could have possibly scored again when a well worked corner saw the ball rolled to Kyle Munro around ten yards out, however his connection was poor and his effort was easily cleared.

Clydebank continued this better play at the start of the second half and went close again just two minutes in. Kyle Munro was the creator as he set up the chance for Millar, but his shot was blocked and the ball ricocheted off Black and went out for a goal kick.

It was well deserved when the Bankies extended their lead after 53 minutes. Munro was the architect again when he burst through the home defence and selflessly squared the ball for Aaron Millar. The big striker delayed his shot and it was initially blocked by the keeper. However, he was given a second bite at the cherry when the ball came back to him and he made no mistake firing low into the net.

Rossvale forced their way back into the match and pulled a goal back after 66 minutes. It was a disappointing goal to lose due to its simplicity. Bradley launched the ball upfield from deep in his own half. The ball dropped into the Bankies penalty area, and McNab managed to hold off Chris Black too easily and stabbed the ball beyond the helpless Waters.

Two minutes later Rossvale were handed the perfect opportunity to draw level when they were awarded a penalty. There was no question about its validity, as Craig Holmes clearly brought down the home attacker as he raced into the box. Sean Higgins took the spot kick, but it was well saved by Marc Waters who dived to his left to stop the ball and then managed to cling on to it.

The Bankies themselves had two chances to kill off the game, the second of which was an utter sitter. The first chance came to Nicky Little after 69 minutes when he did well to control a high bouncing ball, but he just couldn’t keep his snapshot down as it went narrowly over the top.

The next chance with under a quarter an hour should really have buried the home side. It was Munro again who took advantage of slack play in the Rossvale defence. He skipped clear and set up Aaron Millar who just had the keeper to beat. Donnelly, the Rossvale keeper should take some credit for blocking Millar's shot with his legs, but the striker should really have scored.

The closing stages saw the Bankies hanging on a bit with Rossvale missing a couple of chances that would have given them a share of the points. They, firstly, hit the bar when McNab rattled the frame of the goal from only a few yards out when he got on the end of a knock down.

Bradley then saw his header from a corner cleared off the line, and deep in to the inexplicable 5 and half minutes of stoppage time substitute Buchanan sent a header from a free kick just inches over the bar.

Rossvale have a good case to say they deserved a point, but the Bankies have shown great resilience in recent times to earn results in trying times. This has been the hallmark in this run of results where it hasn’t been flashy but rather more functional. The Bankies now sit in fourth position in the league which is the highest the club has been all season. The players have the great incentive against Pollok on Wednesday night when they could reach the giddy heights of second place with a positive result.

Match report written by Stuart McBay