TroonTroon |
1 - 0 |
ClydebankClydebank |
![]() |
League (WoSFL Premier) |
![]() |
Goalscorers | |
Logan Smith (67) | None. |
Team Managers | |
JImmy Kirkwood |
Gordon Moffat |
Starting Eleven | |
1 Dale Burgess 3 Sam McCloskey 5 Logan Smith 6 Jack Sherrie 8 Leyton Dunlop 9 Kyle Gilroy 10 Mark Shankland 11 Dale Moore 14 Dean Fulton 18 Grant Brennan 19 Jaime Gallagher |
Kieran Hughes 20 Adam Hodge 2 Oisin McHugh 15 Creag Little 22 Matt Niven 4 Larry McMahon 17 Lee Gallacher 7 Joe Slattery 8 Ciaran Mulcahy 19 Nicky Little 10 Alan Kelly 21 |
Bench | |
2 Evan McLevy 7 Ben Black 15 Aaron Boyd 16 Aldin El-Zubaidi 17 Dario Viviani 20 Rabin Omar 21 Marty Fraser |
Thomas Collins 14 Callum Graham 9 James Grant 24 Liam McGonigle 11 Craig Truesdale 16 Euan MacMillan 25 |
Substitutions | |
Dario Viviani -> Mark Shankland (65) Evan McLevy -> Dean Fulton (90) |
Thomas Collins for Larry McMahon (74) Craig Truesdale for Joe Slattery (79) Callum Graham for Adam Hodge (83) Liam McGonigle for Alan Kelly (83) |
Cautions | |
Logan Smith (85) Dale Burgess (90) |
Matt Niven (90) |
Red Cards | |
None. | None. |
Match Officials | |
Ross Menzies (Referee) |
See What the Fans think on the Bankies Banter Messageboard.
Big intake of breath…..and type! I think we were all hoping against hope that we could maybe perform some kind of miracle and win our remaining games and make Auchinleck or Beith really work for the league title, but today’s meek defeat by a single goal to Troon was really just a continuation of where we have been in recent weeks, and, sadly, it is now all over.
We even got the result we wanted elsewhere when the other two big challengers drew one all at Beechwood Park, but we could barely rise above the level of lacklustre against a side we defeated 5-1 just three weeks ago.
We knew Troon would be keen to respond to that hammering and it would be a different game at Portland Park. The Seasiders had won two from three since the fixture at Holm Park at the start of the month, but once more we failed to rise to the challenge, and the large Bankies following were left disappointed and many angry.
Yes, we were missing Frazer Johnstone, and Nicky Low, and yes we could have got a point. But we needed to win, a draw was no use. The constant lack of urgency at the start of games is alarming. The fact that we have only scored 6 goals in the first fifteen minutes of league games tells it’s own story (and two of them were in the same match).
As a side who were supposedly going for the League title, we should be starting games on the front foot, putting the opposition under pressure and going all out for the win. That’s what good teams do. I’m sorry to say that It’s been all too pedestrian and the need for twenty minutes to work our way into games is not good enough.
If you don’t give the opposition something to worry about early on in a game, their confidence rises and you end up in a battle which we seem ill-equipped to deal with. As per usual Troon were the brighter of the two sides early on and it took a fantastic stop from Kieran Hughes to save a shot from Grant Brennan which was heading for the top corner after 12 minutes.
Then, the busy Kyle Gilroy dragged a shot wide of the post from a decent position.
Finally just after 20 minutes, the Bankies started to come into the game. Alan Kelly, who was probably the best player in the first half due to him carrying some threat as he began to find some joy against Dale Moore.
He set up Oisin McHugh who put the ball in the net from an offside position, then he probably should have scored when he burst through the defence, only to see his mis-hit shot cleared off the line by a defender. He also had a half reasonable claim for a penalty, but his honesty in staying on his feet probably went against him.
There were a couple of near things from corner kicks with Niven and Creag Little both having off target headers, but Troon also posed a threat from set pieces and Gilroy will have been disappointed to have hit the ball straight at Hughes after a well worked corner kick routine.
As we reached the break, there wasn’t a whole lot in it. Troon has redeemed themselves for their terrible display at Holm Park, and whilst the Bankies had their moments, we hadn’t given the home side too much to worry about.
For the first twenty minutes of the second period, the Bankies had been mostly in the ascendancy but it was hard to see where a goal was going to come from. Since the turn of the year, the biggest issue from an attacking point of view has been the lack of goal scoring chances being created. Despite having the better of the possession, the only real shots at goal in this spell were from two free kicks (one of which did clip the top of the crossbar from Lee Gallacher), and the worry was that a goal for Troon would cause a major problem.
And so it came to pass. Troon had barely threatened in the second half, but you can easily come undone from a set piece. A free kick was sent to the back post and it was headed back across goal, for the towering Logan Smith to power home. A simple goal really.
Beyond that, Clydebank never really looked likely to score an equaliser. Troon were hardly bombarded by waves of attacks though there were a handful of opportunities created. A chip to the back post minutes after the goal, found Ciaran Mulcahy but he headed straight into the arms of Burgess.
Substitute Thomas Collins produced a neat first time angled snapshot from the edge of the box which brought out a decent but expected save from the keeper. Perhaps the best moment was a header from Nicky Little with just three minutes remaining.
It came from as good a move as the Bankies had made all game, and when the ball was clipped over the defence, Little just didn’t go for it with enough conviction as Burgess bore down on him, and the effort was headed tamely into the keepers hands.
It has been soul destroying looking at the league table wondering what might have been. We are still six points ahead, but the sooner the others catch us and put us out of our misery the better. If the form continues in the same vein, we could easily tumble to sixth place in the league once all the games in hand have been completed. I’m not sure if I can ever remember a Clydebank side suffering such a dramatic collapse, and the inquest into what went wrong must start now.
Match report written by Stuart McBay
2023-24 | All Time | All Time | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
League | Cups | League | Cups | All | All | ||||||||||
Age | Nat | ![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
||||
Kieran Hughes (GK) | 29 |
![]() |
21 | - | 4 | - | 21 | - | 4 | - | 25 | - | |||
Adam Hodge | 27 |
![]() |
16 | 1 | 4 | - | 57 | 1 | 24 | 2 | 81 | 3 | |||
Creag Little | 30 |
![]() |
9 | - | 2 | - | 31 | 2 | 13 | - | 44 | 2 | |||
Oisin McHugh | 22 |
![]() |
26 | - | 5 | - | 74 | 1 | 17 | - | 91 | 1 | |||
Matt Niven | 27 |
![]() |
23 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 78 | 10 | 23 | 5 | 101 | 15 | |||
Larry McMahon | 27 |
![]() |
20 | - | 5 | 1 | 49 | 1 | 13 | 1 | 62 | 2 | |||
Joe Slattery | 32 |
![]() |
21 | 1 | 3 | - | 74 | 9 | 20 | 5 | 94 | 14 | |||
Lee Gallacher | 29 |
![]() |
26 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 95 | 22 | 29 | 8 | 124 | 30 | |||
Alan Kelly | 27 |
![]() |
24 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 51 | 10 | 15 | 6 | 66 | 16 | |||
Nicky Little | 32 |
![]() |
25 | 9 | 5 | 6 | 193 | 115 | 64 | 43 | 257 | 158 | |||
Ciaran Mulcahy | 26 |
![]() |
14 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 59 | 16 | 17 | 9 | 76 | 25 | |||
Craig Truesdale (sub) | 24 |
![]() |
11 | 1 | 0 | - | 11 | 1 | 0 | - | 11 | 1 | |||
Liam McGonigle (sub) | 29 |
![]() |
24 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 66 | 15 | 25 | 7 | 91 | 22 | |||
Thomas Collins (sub) | 27 |
![]() |
21 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 21 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 27 | 9 | |||
Callum Graham (sub) | 27 |
![]() |
26 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 26 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 31 | 8 |
League results since Clydebank's last match |
---|
26th March 2024 |
---|
Glenafton Ath | 1-1 | Arthurlie |
27th March 2024 |
---|
St Cadocs | 1-0 | Troon |
30th March 2024 |
---|
Auchinleck Talb | 1-1 | Beith Juniors |
Benburb | 1-1 | Arthurlie |
Cumnock | 0-5 | Darvel |
Irvine Meadow | 2-4 | Glenafton Ath |
Troon | 1-0 | Clydebank |
Pld | W | D | L | +/- | Pts | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | Clydebank | 27 | 14 | 6 | 7 | +20 | 48 |
2. | St Cadocs | 24 | 12 | 6 | 6 | +10 | 42 |
3. | Beith Juniors | 21 | 12 | 5 | 4 | +19 | 41 |
4. | Auchinleck Talb | 21 | 12 | 3 | 6 | +19 | 39 |
5. | Darvel | 22 | 11 | 5 | 6 | +17 | 38 |
6. | Benburb | 25 | 11 | 4 | 10 | +3 | 37 |
7. | Pollok | 23 | 10 | 6 | 7 | +14 | 36 |
8. | Largs Thistle | 23 | 10 | 5 | 8 | +2 | 35 |
9. | Cumnock | 26 | 9 | 8 | 9 | -13 | 35 |
10. | Gartcairn | 23 | 8 | 7 | 8 | +6 | 31 |
11. | Troon | 24 | 8 | 5 | 11 | -10 | 29 |
12. | Hurlford United | 19 | 8 | 4 | 7 | +3 | 28 |
13. | Glenafton Ath | 22 | 6 | 5 | 11 | -14 | 23 |
14. | Kirk Rob Roy | 22 | 5 | 5 | 12 | -21 | 20 |
15. | Arthurlie | 24 | 4 | 7 | 13 | -13 | 19 |
16. | Irvine Meadow | 24 | 3 | 3 | 18 | -42 | 12 |