Clydebank 5
Dalkeith Thistle 1
South Challenge Cup (3rd Round)

Match Report

The Bankies response to last week’s poor performance at Ardrossan was devastating as we hammered five goals past hapless Dalkeith Thistle in the first half hour of this South Challenge Cup third round match at Holm Park.

Keir Samson grabbed his second hat-trick in just his 10th appearance for the club with the in-form Nicky Little assisting two of the goals as well as netting a brace for himself. Little is now just seven goals behind the legend that is Ken Eadie and will surely surpass his record as the club’s all-time highest scorer very soon.

Unfortunately, despite controlling the second half, the Bankies lost their cutting edge and were unable to add to the tally. Of course, we also lost our now obligatory consolation goal to the opposition meaning we have a rather measly record of three clean sheets in thirteen games, which is a little disappointing considering we have yet to lose a game.

Injuries continue to hamper the squad, however Liam McGonigle, Nicky Little and Matt Niven were all able to return to the starting line-up, with Ciaran Mulcahy and Danny MacKenzie managing to find a spot on the bench.

The Bankies set off like an express train and opened the scoring within five minutes. A long diagonal ball, which Dalkeith were very susceptible to in the first half, found Nicky Little and he steered the ball across the box for Keir Samson to divert past keeper Newman.

Two goals in quick succession put the game out of reach of Dalkeith with barely fifteen minutes on the clock. Both goals came from Liam McGonigle cross balls from the left hand side. Nicky Little headed home on both occasions first beating Newman on his left side, then his right.

Little turned provider for two more quick fire goals just prior to the half hour. It was his blocked shot that broke for Samson to roll into the net for number four, and Little unselfishly squared the ball for Samson for number five and his hat-trick when he could quite possibly went for the treble himself.

More goals could have been scored before the break with McGonigle heading over from close range and Nicky Low having a header acrobatically kicked off the line.

Unfortunately, hopes of running up a big score were quickly dispelled as the snap just went out of the Bankies game in the second half. Despite continuing to control possession, the goal scoring opportunities dried up as Dalkeith closed ranks and made it more difficult to make the openings.

The Bankies could still have added further goals, but the chances were a lot less clear cut, and a number of substitutions didn’t really aid the situation.

As a result, Dalkeith were able to make a few sorties up the pitch themselves and with twenty minutes remaining grabbed a consolation. The ball was played to Mackie around 35 yards from goal, and as the space opened up in front of him, he unleashed a great shot which Keaney couldn’t keep out.

This victory finally brings to an end the seemingly bottomless pit of cup games and we can finally get back to league business next week against Cumnock. It feels like this run of cup games has sucked the momentum away from the team (despite continuing to win), and hopefully playing a higher level of opposition for the first time in several weeks won’t come as too much of a shock.

The accommodation of the Scottish Junior Cup and playing the West of Scotland Cup prior to Christmas has meant the fixture schedule has filled the last nine Saturdays of the season with league fixtures. This is leaving very little wriggle room in the event of postponements, and any club going deep in the cup competitions. You can already foresee a situation with some clubs having multiple midweek fixtures at the business end of the season, much like it was in the bad old days in the Juniors. The league should not be allowing minor cup competitions to take precedence over the league and that’s what appears to be happening here.

The Bankies looked to be a bit more like the side that have taken the league by storm this season in the first half today, and we are going to have to see a repeat of that next week against Cumnock. It is the only scheduled league fixture as most other clubs are playing in the Junior cup, so we could do ourselves a massive favour by winning the three points.

Match report written by Stuart McBay