Clydebank 1
Caledonian Locos 0
Friendly

Match Report

Summer in Scotland! Horizontal rain and temperatures barely breaking into double figures meant that under 150 people bothered to turn up for the Bankies latest pre-season adventure against Caledonian Locomotives. The added distraction of the Euros semi-final between France and Spain certainly would have put off anyone swithering about whether to head along to Holm Park on a thoroughly miserable evening.

Unfortunately, those who did show up were “treated” to a grim spectacle as the Bankies laboured their way to an uninspiring 1-0 victory via a late Nicky Little header four minutes from time. Anyone would have thought that maybe the players themselves would rather have stayed home to watch the Euros.

It’s hard to say too much positive about this game other than the fact it is another 90 minutes under the belt. Only Craig Truesdale returned to the line-up from Saturday with Mulcahy, McHugh and Collins all added to the large missing list presumably due to holidays. This meant only four bodies on the bench reduced to three as Ben McLernan who was due to start had to drop out.

The Bankies controlled the game pretty much from start to finish, and the Locos didn’t manage a single shot on goal all night. They had little pockets of possession, but they rarely looked like giving the Clydebank defence anything to worry about.

The game therefore was an exercise in trying to break down a resilient and hard-working opponent. The Bankies didn’t fare too well in this respect. We probably should have scored a few, but we didn’t which was reminiscent of some of our failings from last season. We also seem to over-complicate things by trying to pass our way through the defence, where a bit more directness would have been appreciated by those watching on.

Nicky Little did have the ball in the net twice, at the start of both halves, but he was rightly called offside on each of those occasions.

There were some long periods of serious inactivity particularly in the first period, but chances came and went for Truesdale, Little and Cairns.

There was a bit more urgency in the closing stages as it was apparent that the players were keen to at least score one goal to win the game. Little hit the keeper from close range, Niven headed over. Cairns couldn’t control his shot from inside the six yard box from a bullet Hodge cross were some of the better moments.

It was all a bit anti-climactic when Nicky Little headed home a Hodge cross after 86 minutes. The crowd cheer was almost sarcastic, the players relieved and the Loco players despondent to lose it so late on.

You’ve got to give this game a bit of a free pass to be fair. We must be missing practically half the squad for one reason or another, and the weather was shocking for the middle of July. I don’t think anyone was overly motivated for this.

The only wee warning inside this game for me was the difficulty in scoring which was a problem in the second half of last season. It is an area of the pitch where we have a number of forward thinking players, but not a proper goalscorer. Whether this is addressed or not remains to be seen as it could be a key factor for our prospects.

Saturday sees the fans get their annual pre-season jolly as we head to Dumfries to face Lochar Thistle. The weather has to continue to be crap, though there is a chance it might be dry. Woo-hoo!

Match report written by Stuart McBay