Clydebank 3
Irvine Meadow 1
League (WoSFL Premier)

Match Report

Clydebank eased to a comfortable, if sometimes disjointed, victory over bottom of the table Irvine Meadow at Holm Park this evening. There were some attractive passages of play, but these were often punctuated with some carelessness. And despite not exactly creating a whole host of chances the team managed to get themselves into a three goal lead after an hour. They seemed to fade out of the match after this with the job seemingly done, and Irvine Meadow managed to grab a consolation in the latter stages.

It can’t be ignored that the Bankies squad has been somewhat stretched in recent weeks and to be missing the talents of big-hitters Darroch, Gallacher and Little would test the depth of any pool of players. It’s not that we played badly by any manner of means, just that we didn’t press home the advantage when Meadow could have collapsed with a fourth goal.

On a freezing cold evening at Holm Park it took a while for the game to get going, and it was 12 minutes before we had a shot at goal. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, my man of the match was Nicky Low. He simply exudes class at this level, and it was his defence splitting cross-field pass that sent Alan Kelly clear on the left flank. Kelly couldn’t get an early shot away, and had to check his run before sending a right footed shot over the bar.

The opening goal was scored four minutes later from a slick passing move that opened up the Meadow defence down the left flank. The versatile James Grant delivered an inch perfect pass across the penalty area which Liam McGonigle expertly put away first time.

Just two minutes later Joe Slattery hobbled off adding to the injury woes. It is a shame for Slattery as he seems to have picked up a lot of injuries in recent times just as he is building up a head of steam with his performances.

Not a great deal of excitement occurred before the Bankies increased their lead after 27 minutes. It came from a corner after McInnes had made a good save from a McGonigle shot. In the absence of Lee Gallacher it was left to Nicky Low to take the corner kick and he found the head of Matt Niven whose effort was cleared off the line.

Niven was first to react to the rebound, but his second header was touched onto the crossbar by McInnes, but this time Callum Graham was on hand to nod the loose ball into the net. It’s great to see Graham celebrate a simple goal so vehemently as it obviously means a lot to him.

The Bankies continued to be dominant, but overall just lacking a bit of cutting edge that the missing players would probably have given us, but you have to be content going into the break with a two goal lead.

The first fifteen minutes of the second half was more of the same with the Bankies moving the ball around fairly competently without being hugely incisive. However, the patient approach paid off when McGonigle scored his second after 59 minutes. It came from a quick corner which found Nicky Low in the box. He chipped the ball to the back post which McGonigle nodded home from close range.

Perhaps, if Callum Graham had scored from a gilt-edged chance moments later then the floodgates would have opened. It was from a Nicky Low shot that was blocked and deflected into the strikers path. Unfortunately, the ball just seemed to come to him too quickly and he was unable to direct the ball on target.

Some of the earlier carelessness began to creep into the Bankies game. Meadow, who were a poor side and look like certainties for the drop, began to get a little sniff and were unlucky not to pull a goal back when O’Donnell stabbed the ball wide of the goal after uncertainty in the home defence.

The game started to fizzle out from a Clydebank point of view and this allowed the visitors to pull a goal back with 11 minutes remaining. Jamie Donnelly, who has been in good form since returning to the side, will have to hold up his hands to a bad error when he dropped a fairly straight forward shot from O’Donnell. Euan Baird was on hand to sweep home the gift he was presented with.

That was really the end of the action. The Bankies played well enough in patches and were always too strong for an Irvine Meadow side who look to be in real trouble at the bottom of the league. Conversely, we re-established the seven point lead at the top of the table and with a free next week, hopefully some of the injuries will have eased.

Gordon Moffat mentioned in his post-match interview that he was looking to add to the squad. He may always have had it in his mind that he might need to strengthen the pool of players as the season progresses. Maybe not quite as early as this, however.

Our next game is against one of our big rivals, Pollok, in the West of Scotland Cup. Although, you always go into every game trying to win, I would gladly forego this competition if it meant we had a real tilt at the league title. This is probably the most in contention we have ever been, and I’d like to see all efforts in that direction.

Match report written by Stuart McBay