Ardeer Thistle 0
Clydebank 4
South Challenge Cup (1st Round)

Match Report

Callum Graham made a little bit of history for himself by scoring the fastest ever hat-trick for Clydebank FC which he achieved in or around five minutes. It hasn’t always been the easiest of times for the striker at the Bankies but his treble of well taken goals sealed passage into the second round of the South Challenge Cup as Ardeer Thistle were brushed aside with little difficulty.

It was a first for the Bankies as they had never played Ardeer Thistle in a competitive game before and it is always an adventure visiting a new ground. There was virtually the whole length of the West of Scotland Football League between the two clubs with Ardeer plying their trade in tier nine whilst the Bankies sit proudly at the top of the 6th tier Premier League.

Unfortunately, for Ardeer, this apparent gap turned out to be as wide as the Grand Canyon as the Bankies scored four goals without reply and were able to treat the last half hour like a training match as Thistle captain Scott Hindmarsh was shown a second yellow card for hauling down Keir Samson in the penalty box.

This was all done by resting a number of key first team players such as Lee Gallacher, Nicky Little and Ciaran Mulcahy. New signing David Syme was also absent due to serving a suspension incurred in last season’s competition.

This allowed a few players to get some minutes on the pitch including Thomas Collins and Matt Niven who are both recovering from injury and Callum Graham who is keen to stake a place in the side following the signing of Keir Samson.

In fairness to Ardeer they played quite well for the first half hour without causing the Bankies any real problems. Clydebank had a few good moments, and it did look inevitable that a goal would be scored at some point. The question was always going to be how Ardeer would react if they fell behind, and the answer turned out to be miserably.

The opening goal on the half hour came from a decent passing move as Johnstone threaded a forward pass to Jimmy Grant, who in turn prodded the ball beyond the defence for Callum Graham. The striker wasted no time as he slammed the ball past Summers in the home goal.

The last thing Thistle needed to do was suffer a collapse but that is precisely what happened. Barely a couple of minutes later Graham benefitted from a nice flick by Samson who may have finished the chance himself, but big Callum stole a march on him and poked the ball high into the net beyond the keeper.

History was in the air for Callum with a third goal in just five minutes when he got on the end of a Thomas Collins corner to place a well-directed header into the bottom corner. The previous record holder for fastest hat-trick was Aaron Millar who netted three goals in ten minutes against Vale of Leven in 2019.

The game was essentially over as a contest, but It was to Ardeer’s credit that they tried to have a go at the start of the second half. However, the booking and subsequent sending off of Scott Hindmarsh ended Thistle’s resistance. Thomas Collins netted the penalty kick that followed and from thereon in it was a case of the Bankies players managing the game and themselves making sure injury was avoided.

There were umpteen chances to run up a big score, but I think everyone was happy enough with what they saw today. The day belonged to Callum Graham and nobody can begrudge him this moment and hopefully he can take full advantage of any other opportunities that are afforded to him in the side.

The West of Scotland League resumes next week and the Bankies have yet another massive game against the latest club with an unlimited credit line from a generous benefactor. Johnstone Burgh have already shown that they are one of the main contenders for the league title and remain unbeaten this season. It goes without saying what a positive result would mean even at this early part of the season. It should be a cracker of a game and one that every Bankies fan will be looking forward to with great excitement

Match report written by Stuart McBay