Fort William 1
Clydebank 10
Scottish Cup (Preliminary Round)

Match Report

As expected the Bankies progressed to the first round of the Scottish Cup with a one-sided annihilation of North Caledonian League outfit Fort William at Claggan Park by ten goals to one.

Despite losing an early goal the Bankies were never in any real danger, and great credit is due to Fort William who never lost the plot and continued to try and play the right way. The only blot on their copybook would be when goalkeeper Kit Fletcher was given a seldom seen straight red card for dissent after the tenth goal went in.

He must have compared the ref to a “Jeremy Hunt” as it’s hard to see what is normally a yellow card offence, being upgraded to a red.

The unusual kick off time of 7.30 on a Saturday night due to the ground being used for the Ben Nevis Race earlier in the day, actually seemed to help the attendance which was very healthy. As well as a large contingent of travelling Bankies fans, the locals came out in force, particularly the young team who created a great atmosphere.

Gordon Moffat fielded pretty much the strongest line-up with McHugh back in defence for Creag Little, and Ciaran Mulcahy sadly bidding farewell to the Bankies as he pursues his real career overseas.

The pitch was difficult to say the least, and it was evident the Bankies were going to have to play more long balls as passing was not on the agenda. It took the players a wee while to get to grips with this and they were maybe just hurrying the ball into the channels allowing The Fort defence to cope well in the early stages.

So much so, that the home side took the lead with a long punt up the pitch. McHugh and Niven weren’t alert enough to the knock on, and Martin Munro ran through and slotted the ball past Hughes.

Claggan Park erupted at this, as the underdogs got their moment and the fans made the most of this unexpected turn of events. It didn’t last long – four minutes to be exact when Collins was up-ended in the box and Nicky Little stuck away his 38th penalty for the Bankies.

Fort William had one or two useful looking players going forward and you can see why they are top of their league, but their defence was wide open to the Bankies attacks. Once the Clydebank players had figured it out they unleashed the goals scoring five in a thirteen minute period before the interval.

Matt Niven put the Bankies in the lead after 29 minutes when he glanced a near post header past the keeper. The defender on the line should have cleared, but the linesman signalled the ball had gone in.

Then the floodgates opened. Collins latched onto a long ball prodding it past Fletcher two minutes later. Collins then turned provider cutting the ball back for Nicky Little who belted it into the net.

The goalkeeper hesitated as he allowed Collins to beat him to a through ball, and the forward scored his fifth goal of the season with a deft chip. The sixth and final goal of the half came from the head of Ciaran Mulcahy who wrong footed the keeper with a neat reverse header.

So it was all over bar the shouting at half time, so the second forty-five was a bit flat, though the Bankies continued to look for goals. I think at this point double figures would have been seen as the satisfactory outcome.

Nicky Little wasted no time in scoring goal number seven and his own hat trick with a cracking free kick. The skipper racked up his third treble for the club, and took his own all-time tally up to an impressive 150 goals.

Moffat took the opportunity to change things around, and it was in the last fifteen minutes that the eighth to tenth goals were scored.

Lee Gallacher scored his 25th all-time goal from a fairly easy position in the middle of the penalty area, and Larry McMahon’s powerful running took him beyond the Fort defence allowing him to ram the ball past fletcher.

The tenth goal was a wee parting gift from Ciaran Mulcahy who tapped the ball into the empty net after Liam McGonigle of all people managed to outjump the goalkeeper. The frustrated stopper thought he had been fouled leading to his sending off.

It’s always hard to sum up these games when it is such an obvious mis-match. The players did the job in a professional manner, and never took the piss in a showboat manner which would have been disrespectful. It was a good night for the fans with Fort William being very hospitable hosts and the support seemed to enjoy themselves.

The Bankies now await to see who they get in the next round and the focus returns to the league next Saturday, as the club look to make it eight unbeaten when we visit Kirkintilloch Rob Roy.

Match report written by Stuart McBay