Threave Rvrs 3
Clydebank 3
Friendly

Match Report

Clydebank continued their pre-season run with a trip down to Castle Douglas to face former South of Scotland Outfit Threave Rovers this afternoon. The Meadow Park side entered the West Region last season and were promoted to the Third Division at their first attempt, and judging by their set-up appear to be a club with ambition to move up the levels.

And as expected, they gave the Bankies a tough test with the match ending in a three all draw. There’s no doubt that Clydebank controlled the game for long periods, particularly in the second half but some slack defending allowed the Kirkcudbrightshire side to net three first half goals, and arguably the Bankies didn’t create enough good chances to warrant the win.

For the first time, new signings Thomas Collins and Callum Graham started a game together with Liam McGonigle coming in to make up a front three. Regular wide players Lee Gallacher and Alan Kelly were on the bench, and already you can see the dilemma that Gordon Moffat is going to have keeping all his forwards happy.

Today’s line-up didn’t allow for as much width as we usually enjoy with Gallacher and Kelly, and it was noticeable how this improved when they were both introduced in the second half. Moffat has generally played with one main striker in the past, so making room for both Collins and Graham could be tricky.

And all this before Nicky Little returns to the side. In the last twenty years, we have never had a squad so top heavy with forwards. Maybe we will have to go back to the old-fashioned 2-3-5 formation and go out with a plan to simply outscore our opponents.

The first half was an entertaining affair, with five goals scored and the Bankies missing their best chances. What they didn’t count on was the finishing skills of Connor Potts who scored a fine hat-trick comprised of just about every shot Threave had in the first period.

It was the Bankies who began the game the better, and Thomas Collins was unlucky as he slid in to meet a Graham cross, only to see the ball go just past the wrong side of the post.

The opener wasn’t long in coming – after ten minutes to be precise. A quickly taken short corner was delivered into the box from the right wing by McGonigle and the unmarked Callum Graham headed in at the back stick from close range.

The lead lasted just one minute as Threave quickly drew level. The ball was worked do the left wing and passed to Potts just inside the penalty area. The forward seem to have acres of space as he stopped the ball and picked his spot with a low shot past Hughes.

Just six minutes later the same player scored a cracking free kick after Frazer Johnstone gave away an unnecessary free kick around 25 yards from goal. Even the Clydebank fans in the crowd applauded as Potts smashed an unstoppable free kick past Hughes.

Clydebank then missed some very good chances to equalise. Firstly, Callum Graham should have scored when he was put clear and tried to side foot the ball past the advancing Wright. The keeper was sharp out of his goal, but the striker will know he should have done better.

Then Jamie Darroch was unlucky not to net with a double opportunity. He first had a header cleared off the line from a corner kick. The ball rebounded back to him and we all know how hard Darroch can hit a volley. On another day the ball would have flown into the net, but this time luck wasn’t on his side as the ball ricocheted off a leg on the line and spun away to safety.

Clydebank did get their equaliser after 31 minutes from Thomas Collins. The former Kilwinning forward already looks to me to be a player with a lot to offer and could be a really pivotal signing for the club. He has had a fantastic scoring record throughout his career and if he can maintain that allied with his outside the box skills then we could have a real player on our hands.

His goal actually came from a poor attempted headed backpass, but Collins was alert to this and as the ball fell from the sky he showed great technique to cutely lob the ball over the stranded keeper and just under the bar.

The Bankies were in for another shock just before the break as Potts completed his hat-trick. It was a dream first half for the forward as just prior to scoring, he almost had an assist when he set up Oris whose clipped shot bounced off the top of the bar.

Again, the danger was down the left wing, and Potts was the beneficiary of a cross ball that deflected straight into his path. He still had work to do as he controlled the ball, and hit a reverse shot that Hughes could do nothing about it.

The Bankies made no changes at half time, and quickly equalised again after 50 minutes. Oisin McHugh was the provider from the left wing, and keeper Wright made a bit of a hash of cutting out his cross ball.

There was a definite audible slap noise as the ball dropped right in front of Liam McGonigle who bravely dived to head the ball into the vacant goal net.

We did get a slew of substitutes after that, and Clydebank were much more dominant in the second period as Threave didn’t pose much of a threat at all. However, the Bankies didn’t really create an awful lot either.

Even with the direct running of Kelly and the trickery of Gallacher, the winning goal didn’t come. McGonigle stabbed a shot over the bar, and Niven saw a decent header tipped over the bar. But other than that there weren’t too many other clear cut chances. Perhaps young McLernan could have done better than side foot a shot wide from a decent position.

Rovers could have nicked the win themselves when Niven tried a drag back only to be dispossessed by Brotherton, but thankfully the forward’s composure went out the window and he fired wildly over the bar.

It was a decent competitive game, with a few bookings which really the ref was left with no alternative to give. “No such thing as a friendly”, I heard him muttering to Lee Gallacher.

The fans always enjoy a trip to a ground a bit further afield, so it was a success from that point of view. From a playing point of view it is difficult to see how this group of players are all going to fit together at the moment, but we do seem to have a lot of options all over the field, which is a nice change. The goal is to be ready to go when we face Benburb in just three weeks time.

The pre-season continues on Tuesday when Rutherglen Glencairn visit Holm Park.

Match report written by Stuart McBay