Troon 3
Clydebank 1
League (WoSFL Premier)

Match Report

Clydebank’s indifferent pre-season form has well and truly spilled out all over the competitive campaign, as a second defeat in a row – this time to Troon by three goals to one sees the Bankies sitting in the bottom half of the table, and even at this early stage of the season the near future is not exactly filling the support with any great optimism.

The Bankies were the better side in the first half of this game and deserved their one goal lead at the break, although it has to be said that there were very few shots at goal. This continued for a short period into the second period before a flukey equaliser changed everything.

After that, the Bankies were hugely disappointing. I don’t think we even had a shot at goal in the whole of the second half, whilst Troon were lifted massively by the goal and through the promptings of substitute Dean Fulton on the right wing they ended up winning the match with two late goals.

There is no doubt that Troon are going to make you work for anything you take away from Portland Park, and the Bankies handled themselves quite well in the first period. They largely controlled possession, and dealt with the Seasiders robust presence quite comfortably. Larry McMahon looked fairly decent in the middle of all this.

Where Clydebank were letting themselves down was in forward positions. There is a real dearth of any creative football being played at all. The constant battering the ball up the park has diminishing returns as the home side got wise to it the longer the game went on.

If we are going to play this direct style of football - whether by accident or design – then we need players who fit that style. Sure Josh Weir will chase a long ball all day long, but are Gallacher and McGonigle going to do the same? Towards the end, every long ball was dealt with by the Troon defence with the contempt it deserved, and it made the Bankies look just toothless and just a bit clueless.

The Bankies only real threat was coming from set pieces, and pretty much all the first half chances came from that route. A corner after 5 minutes to the back post was headed back across goal by Darroch and Creag Little met the ball from just outside the six yard box but his effort was blocked on the line.

Then, a couple of minutes later, Darroch – who had come forward for a set piece – pounced on a half clearance and sent a cracking 25 yarder which Burgess saved brilliantly on his left hand side.

The first half was punctuated with long spells of midfield posturing, but it was Clydebank who eventually gained the upper hand in this battle. After 18 minutes a free kick on the right was almost put into his own goal by McLevy, and from the resulting corner the ball found its way to McMahon who played an incisive pass to Weir. From a tight angle the striker managed to get the ball past the keeper but it flew past the far post.

After another protracted period, the Bankies took the lead just before the break. It came from a corner after a rasping shot from Frazer Johnstone was tipped over the bar by Burgess. Gallacher delivered the ball into the box, and new boy Creag Little lunged low and sent a great volley into the net.

The second half began in a similar fashion to the first, but a goal just eight minutes in changed the landscape for the rest of the game. Troon were awarded a free kick on the left wing for their first real dangerous set piece of the match. Ben Black hit a deep in-swinger – and whether he meant this is up for debate - but the ball evaded everyone and flew into the top corner at the back post. Bankies replacement keeper, Kyle King, looked a bit suspect on a couple of first half cross balls and it isn’t clear whether he could have done better here.

This goal came on the back of Dean Fulton joining the fray for the home side, and he fairly influenced things thereafter causing all sorts of bother down the right wing. It was his superb solo run after 74 minutes which should have led to a goal, but his finish was blasted over the bar after he had waltzed through the Bankies defence.

The Bankies substitutions failed to quell this, and Troon went ahead with just six minutes left. The move inevitably came down the right wing and the ball was teed up for McCloskey and he curled it into the corner from 20 yards with King rooted to the spot.

Two minutes later the result was put beyond doubt. Again, Fulton ran riot down the wing again, hitting the ball across the face of goal for Gallagher to ram home from close range.

The Bankies had totally lost their way in the second half, and the better first half was over-shadowed with an unacceptable capitulation which seemed almost akin to the Benburb drubbing at the turn of this year.

The jury is still out on all the new signings for this season. It is hard to see whether any of them are adding increased value to the squad from last season. Questions also have to be asked of the players who have served the club so well in recent years. Maybe some of these players have run their course and possibly Moffat has been too loyal to some of them.

We never lost any of out first 12 league games last season, but have lost two of the first three this term. It was clear that things were on a downward trajectory after Christmas last season. We really struggled to beat the bottom clubs in the league – scraping by, and only just. Our form after the turn of the year was mid-table, and maybe that was a warning going into this season. In these reports, after some challenging results towards the end of last season it was suggested that recruitment going into this year was going to be massive if the club were to keep pushing forward.

The Darvel factor has made the transfer market a more difficult place to operate in, and some prospective deals didn’t come off, but we don’t seem to have been able to bring in that little bit of extra quality that the side now looks short of. The manager needs to get this squad playing and the players need to accept that responsibility.

There is no league game next week, as prospective opponents Darvel have a prior cup game. The Bankies will have a friendly against Rossvale however, before the crucial Scottish Cup tie against Bonnyton in a fortnight.

Match report written by Stuart McBay