Gartcairn 2
Clydebank 2
League (WoSFL Premier)

Match Report

Clydebank showed great spirit and determination to rescue a point against the league’s newest spendthrifts Gartcairn after losing two goals in the first ten minutes. A deflected effort from Frazer Johnstone which Callum Graham is taking credit for on account of him making the final touch, and a penalty kick from the inspirational Jamie Darroch earned the Bankies a two all draw when the game was slipping away from us.

With Darvel resolving to live within their means in recent times, Gartcairn have stepped forward to seamlessly take their place. A club with an impressive youth academy set up appear to have abandoned the founding principals of the formation of a semi-professional club to provide a pathway to the adult game from the youth set up.

The majority of players in the starting eleven today were signed for “undisclosed fees” and the rumours of the wages being paid are incongruent with the level we are playing at. The silence that greeted their goals this afternoon suggest that it is not being funded through the turnstiles.

It is what it is, and it is just one of the new models of running a football club that traditional teams like Clydebank have to find a way of combatting against.

With regards to the football, the incessant rain made it nigh on impossible to take any notes so the basic facts of the matter were that Gartcairn scored two goals in the first nine minutes on the two occasions they crossed the halfway line.

You have got to be impressed with the speed that both goals were executed as Gartcairn cut through the Bankies defence like the proverbial hot knife through butter. The first came from a breakaway down the left wing from Krol and his cut back was skilfully guided into the corner of the net by Reilly.

The second came directly from Lee Gallacher being dispossessed in the middle of the pitch. A single through ball sent Smith clear and he slotted the ball home giving the Bankies an almighty uphill struggle.

The Bankies controlled virtually the whole of the remaining 80 minutes of play, but perhaps lacked any real cutting edge on the day. Joe Slattery had two decent opportunities to get back into the game – one a header from a free kick and the other a volley at the back post which he could possibly have done better with.

It has to be said that Gartcairn also had a couple of near things in the opening 45 minutes to extend their lead, and going into the second period the popular opinion was that an early goal was going to be needed to be scored to give us a chance of taking anything from the game.

Unfortunately, the only thing that happened early on was the injury to Nicky Little which didn’t look too clever. He looked like he may have rolled his ankle and we have to hope that no serious damage has been done.

The Bankies continued to control the game, and Jimmy Grant should have done better when he closed in on goal from the right hand side. He appeared to just delay his shot a fraction and he ended up snatching at the ball screwing it well wide.

However, the Bankies were handed a lifeline after 61 minutes with a fortunate goal. The ball was worked to the left hand side of the penalty box, and Frazer Johnstone sent in a strike that was deflected and spun into the opposite corner which Liam Russell dived into. I can’t say that I saw who the ball deflected off of, but Callum Graham has claimed it, and Johnstone seems to be happy to let him have it.

Just three minutes later and we were all square as Nicky Low was fouled on the edge of the box as he was poised to shoot. With Nicky Little off the pitch, it fell to Jamie Darroch to take the spot kick which he despatched confidently into the bottom right corner of the goal.

This was the cue for the game to take a nastier streak, as the Gartcairn players seemed determined to leave their mark on the Clydebank side. Some weak officiating failed to address this and Lee Gallacher became the second Bankies player to leave the field injured. This was on top of Grant and Slattery having to be patched up for facial/head cuts.

The closest the Bankies came to winning all three points was from a Calum Graham header that flew agonisingly over the bar, from a McGonigle free kick.

The final moments belonged to Gartcairn as the Bankies defence had to withstand a few Ian McShane deliveries into the box which were dealt with resolutely.

A draw was a decent result after the start to the match against a team who have been beating all-comers recently. The league table is certainly starting to concertina with several clubs coming into focus. Even the likes of Auchinleck who had a poor start to the season are not a million miles away. Any number of clubs could put themselves in the frame with a good run. The Bankies remain top and should stay there for at least a few weeks yet.

The concern going into Friday’s game against Irvine Meadow is the rapidly increasing injury list. I will be extremely surprised if Nicky Little makes it, and with Lee Gallacher hobbling off we look a bit short in an attacking sense. We could perhaps do with getting a new body into the squad? The fixture list is a little kinder in the run up to the new year and we could really do with taking maximum points to keep ourselves in the running for the title.

Match report written by Stuart McBay