Clydebank 4
Troon 1
League (WoSFL Premier)

Match Report

Gordon Moffat celebrated his 100th game in charge of the Bankies with another high scoring victory defeating Troon by four goals to one in this West of Scotland League match.

Despite the margin of victory it was a bit Jekyll and Hyde. A whirlwind start saw the Bankies two up within seven minutes, and a third just before the half hour from Ciaran Mulcahy pretty much meant the three points were staying at Holm Park. The second half was a much more grim affair.

Whether, Mulcahy injured himself scoring or had been carrying a knock previously, it was his substitution shortly afterwards that led to the Bankies attack losing its impetus.

For a while in the first half it looked like the Bankies could score every time they went up the field, and Mulcahy was central to that. He was winning just about every high ball, and his body strength was causing no end of problems for the Troon defence. He was a big loss when he went off and judging by the way he was hobbling about afterwards, it would appear he could be on the sidelines for a while.

Moffat made a couple of changes from the match at Kilsyth last week. Alan Kelly earning a start after his excellent display from the bench last week, and Larry McMahon started his first game since the start of November. Hamish McKinlay and the injured Joe Slattery were the pair to drop out.

It was a dream return for McMahon as he opened the scoring after just two minutes. He ran onto a diagonal pass from Gallacher at the junction of the penalty box, with the goalkeeper exposing his goal by foolishly racing from his line. It was great awareness and execution by McMahon as he lifted the ball over the head of Burgess and into the net.

Just five minutes later and it was two. The ball was switched from the right to the left wing to Alan Kelly. The winger cut inside and tried to shoot from 25 yards but his effort was blocked, however the ball ricocheted straight back to him. Taking the ball in his stride he took one touch and rifled it into the corner giving Burgess no chance.

The two goal lead set the pattern thereafter, as Troon had to come out in order to try and retrieve the situation. In fairness to them, the Ayrshire side played a lot of good passing football, but probably lacked a little cutting edge.

On several occasions, they would get beyond the home defence, but either the final pass, or a striker with enough composure was missing to put the finish touch to their moves.

Before the half hour was up so was the game. A quick pass from MacKenzie from back to front found the forward run of Mulcahy between two defenders. The speed of the move seemed to catch keeper Burgess off guard as he was way off his line. With half of Holm Park shouting shoot to Mulcahy, he duly obliged by sending a pinpoint lob into the net.

The best moment of the first half for Troon came shortly afterwards when a superb low cross from the right saw Jamieson and Donnelly collide in the six yard box. A touch from the forward would probably have ended up as a goal, and he looked to have a fair shout for a penalty, but the ref wasn’t interested.

The Bankies could have added a fourth in first half stoppage time when a clever back heel from substitute Connor Higgins put Chris Black through. It has to be said that Blackie’s hair is looking superb nowadays, and it was unruffled as he hit a tremendous goalbound shot, but was denied by a combination of the goalkeeper’s fingertips and the crossbar.

This half time score was notable as up until today’s game the Bankies had scored just six first half goals in the league this season, with 17 in the second period. The three goals represented a 50% increase and is something that possibly needs looked at.

The second half was a complete turnaround, as the Bankies fell out of the play for long periods with Troon in complete control. It gives credence to the thought that we probably could do with another body in the middle of the park in the moments when the game is going against us.

Frazer Johnstone has been looking more like his old self recently but with his partner in crime Joe Slattery missing, the midfield could do with an energetic player who make his passes.

Again, Troon lacked the incisiveness needed to get back in the game, but the did eventually pull one back just after an hour. Black and Gilroy combined on the right wing and a deflected cross took the ball to the back post where Jamieson was in place to nod home from close range.

This obviously concerned Moffat enough to change the formation to a 3-5-2 with Alan Kelly the unfortunate player to be replaced. But all this did was make things worse as Troon took a further grip on the game, forcing the boss to go back to the original set-up and switch the personnel around. McKinlay came on to facilitate this.

With time running out as were Troon’s hopes of a comeback, we saw an individual bit of brilliance from an otherwise subdued Nicky Little. The skipper had the ball down the left wing, and with everyone expecting him to run into the corner, he suddenly turned inside, leaving the defender completely outfoxed. He looked up, and slid the ball to the waiting Connor Higgins who stabbed home his 9th of the season.

At the end of the day, the half time scoreline may have had some bearing on the second half performance. It has been a quite incredible sequence of scorelines, and is going to be hard to maintain. With injuries mounting up, hopefully one or two are close to a return as the bench looked a little inexperienced today.

The Bankies are now eighth in the table and could possibly go as high as fourth if they can continue this form against Arthurlie at Holm Park on Wednesday.