Clydebank 1
Hurlford United 1
League (WoSFL Premier)

Match Report

There is no doubt that Gordon Moffat will look back at this game as two points dropped. After fighting back from losing an early goal to Hurlford United, all the Bankies had to show for their efforts was a fortuitous goal from Lee Gallacher which gave both sides a share of the points.

The second half belonged almost exclusively to the Bankies, but they just couldn’t find a way past goalkeeper Wilson who had a couple of great saves, one in particular from Lee Gallacher which was out of the top drawer to keep the scores even.

Hurlford indulged in one of the worst cases of gamesmanship seen at Holm Park in a long time. The feigning of injuries was embarrassing, and the antics at trying to make substitutions was like something out of the amateur leagues and really has no place at this level of football. They did, however, escape with the point that they coveted.

The Bankies were hoping to start from where they left off against Largs on Saturday, but Hurlford shocked the home side after just eight minutes. A warning had been fired just a minute earlier when full back Blair Anderson hit a blistering 25 yards shot that just flashed over the bar and had Hughes well beaten despite his vain attempt to get near it.

The goal was a quick and effective move from the visitors. The ball was won just inside the Bankies half, and immediately sent out to Ally Love on the left wing. Without a moment’s hesitation he whipped in a vicious cross which was met at the back post by the head of Mullen who guided the ball into the bottom corner of the goal.

I’ve lamented before about the amount of times we have lost the opening goal at Holm Park over the last two years, and we just haven’t found the solution to this problem. We have now fallen behind at Holm Park in all three of our home games this season. No matter how well we play, it is going to kill us if we keep giving the opposition a goal of a start.

The response from the Bankies was good this time and Joe Slattery almost equalised after he fastened on to a brilliant through ball from Nicky Low, but his shot whistled past the far post.

Hurlford came back and the Bankies had a let-off from a quick breakaway when the ball was once again launched to the back post for Mullen but this time he put his shot wide of the target.

The game settled down to one of few chances in the middle third of the first half, but Clydebank began to exert themselves as we approached the interval and pushed the Ford back.

Love almost put the ball in his own net from a corner kick then Nicky Low didn’t get enough curl on his shot inside the box and it went straight into Wilson’s arms.

One of the best moments was from a cleared corner which came back to Gallacher. The winger pushed the ball back to ?, and he unleashed a thunderous shot which Wilson did well to tip over the bar.

The equaliser wasn’t long in coming and it had a little bit of luck attached to it. Lee Gallacher flighted in an in-swinging cross from a free kick on the right wing. It was just ahead of everyone and the anticipated touch didn’t come and keeper Wilson could only stand and watch as the ball flew into the far corner.

It was clear that Hurlford needed the half time whistle to come as Gallacher sent another shot over the bar from a Grant assist.

Hurlford tried to up the pace at the start of the second half and it was all a bit frantic initially, but eventually it settled back down to Clydebank being the dominant side. The problem was the lack of goalscoring opportunities against a well drilled defence.

Callum Graham was presented with perfect opportunity when he ran onto a through pass by Grant. He easily had a yard or two on the defender, and disappointingly he allowed himself to be caught without even getting a shot away.

It was another difficult game for the big striker, who has found life at Holm Park hard going. He has never looked comfortable in Clydebank colours so far, and it was all a bit of a struggle again and it was no real surprise when he was substituted not lot long after.

With Nicky Little on the pitch, the Bankies looked a more cohesive unit. A spell on the sidelines will have done him no harm. With Graham’s lack of form, and if Mulcahy is not back to fitness, then he must come into contention for the Auchinleck game on Saturday.

For all Clydebank’s dominance, goalscoring opportunities were still thin on the ground. Hurlford had long since sensed they could lose the game and were wasting every second possible, and it was only in the last ten minutes or so that all the good lead up play started to produce shots at goal.

There were two notable moments. The first from a long diagonal cross from Hodge which was met sweetly on the volley by Gallacher. You could not fault Gallacher in the slightest as his technique was spot on, but Wilson dived to his left to produce an equally good save.

The chance that should have won the game fell to McGonigle in the box from around six yards out. A cross from the left was missed by the defence and came to him quickly, however he should have ripped the netting from the rigging, but he slammed the ball off the crossbar much to the frustration of everyone on the terracing.

There were so many near things, but just not quite moments and even with seven minutes of stoppage time the Bankies could not find a way to get the winning goal. Hurlford will be delighted to have gotten away with a point in a game they should have lost.

Gordon Moffat will be happy with the performance but not the result. His sides have come unstuck so many times against Hurlford but tonight they were vastly superior and will be gutted not have won all three points.

There were a number of top performers for the Bankies tonight. James Grant continues to impress. The rest of his defence were also in good form with Oisin McHugh really looking the part as a centre half. He was probably my pick of the players, however Nicky Low ran him close as he continues to improve in recent weeks.

The Bankies travel to Auchinleck on Saturday to play a Talbot side who have been in uncharacteristically poor form winning just one of their first five matches. The Bankies only real selection problems look in attack, and hopefully Joe Slattery who was taken off with a knock recovers as he has also been in decent nick recently.

Match report written by Stuart McBay