Ardrossan WR 1
Clydebank 1 (4-5 on pens)
West of Scotland Football League Cup (1st Round)

Match Report

There hasn’t been much reason to be critical this season as the Bankies had recorded eleven straight victories up until today and sit top of the Premier League with a 100% record. However, the performance against lower league Ardrossan Winton Rovers in the West of Scotland Cup was miles below the standards that have been set so far.

The fact that we somehow managed to progress via a penalty shoot-out to the next round was a travesty of justice. Anyone who attended the match at Valefield park could have had no qualms had the scoreline ended 4-1 to the home side, such was their superiority.

Arguably, a performance like this was on the cards. We had been none too convincing against Girvan last week in the Scottish Cup and there seems to be an overall drop off in levels that needs to be addressed before we resume the league campaign in two weeks’ time.

Of course, there are mitigating factors. Would we have played this badly had Andy Leishman, Adam Hodge, Matt Niven, Frazer Johnstone, Ciaran Mulcahy, Thomas Collins and Danny MacKenzie all been available? It is doubtful, but that was still a strong side who took to the field today and despite Ardrossan playing very well, we should be doing better.

It has to be said that the main reason we are through to the next round is through deputy goalkeeper Connor Keaney who was the hero in the penalty shoot-out saving three of the eight spot kicks he faced. He also made two outstanding save during the course of the match to keep the Bankies in the game.

The first was a quick free kick on the left wing that caught the Bankies defence sleeping. The ball was crossed low from the left wing and was met sweetly by Ryan Wilson, but Keaney made a miraculous stop low on his right hand side to keep the ball out.

The second was top class as you could have driven a bus through the Bankies defence as Christopher Craig was sent clear. The forward made the angle to shoot past Keaney, but the young keeper pulled off an astonishing stop to keep the score goalless.

He could do nothing when Ardrossan finally opened the scoring after 64 minutes. It was probably how you would envisage the way the Bankies were going to lose a goal. An old-fashioned stramash in the penalty box, boots and bodies flying everywhere and not a clue who actually put the ball over the line, though we are reliably informed it was Mark Curragh.

Clydebank had offered nothing in the second half, and it was hard to see how defeat could be avoided at this point. It was in sharp contrast to the first ten minutes when the Bankies had set off at a fast pace.

Nicky Low had a dipping volley go just wide in less than a minute’s play, then Dean Cairns fired over the bar from a neat McLernan lay-off.

However, we never looked comfortable against the two tall attackers Curragh, and Wilson. This nervousness was personified when Lee Galllacher gave the ball away to Curragh deep inside his own half and the forward was unlucky when his resulting shot deflected just wide. This was the start of a forgettable day for Gallacher which was compounded when he missed his penalty which would have won the tie for Bankies.

The Bankies responded with a ball into the channel for Samson and his well struck shot was parried over the bar by Smyth. Samson is one of the few outfield players who I would give pass marks to. He ran himself into the ground with little service from behind, and chased down so many aimless long balls it was incredible.

David Syme and Oisin McHugh were the two main offenders for launching the ball in either no particular direction or out of bounds entirely. McHugh was then short with a pass that was intercepted by Curragh, and his low shot was well saved for a corner. This led to Syme heading the ball off the line from a free header as the Bankies had the first of many let offs.

After this period, the Bankies started to pass the ball rather than going long, and this was more fruitful. A decent move found Gallacher on the right and his dink into the box was headed off the cross bar by Dean Cairns. The ball was recycled and Jimmy Grant’s side footed effort was gathered by the keeper.

This was about the best the Bankies offered and even the substitutions of Little, McGonigle and Graham didn’t alter the pattern of play much after we had fallen behind. What did happen though was that we equalised against the run of play. With just over ten minutes remaining Ardrossan were understandably trying to time waste a little and take the sting out of the game.

However, the Bankies do possess a quality penalty box player in Keir Samson and he took his chance when it presented itself to him. It was unsurprisingly an untidy goal with the ball breaking loose in the box, but Samson was there to smash it high into the net from 12 yards.

There was no grandstand finish from the Bankies as play immediately switched down the other end with Wilson coming close twice, Campbell rattling the far post with a vicious drive, and Syme heading another clear effort off the line. The Bankies survived to the penalty shoot out and there is sometimes an inevitability for the underdog after failing to win the game in the 90 minutes.

For the record the Bankies went 2-1 up in the shoot-out before missing their next two to level it up. Both sides missed their 5th penalty taking it into sudden death. Keaney saved Alan Cairns spot kick in the eighth round with our Cairns (Dean) stroking home the winner.

It would be all too easy to get laid in to the team after a couple of poor performances, but the quality is in the squad and we need to hope this terrible injury situation shows some sign of abating soon.

It is another cup game next week when we host Dalkeith Thistle in the South Challenge Cup and it gives us another two weeks for hopefully one or two the injured players to come back into the reckoning for the Cumnock league fixture at Holm Park.

There is no doubt this run of cup games has taken the focus away from the league campaign, and we need to regain the intensity we showed in the big games at Gartcairn, St Cadocs and Johnstone Burgh as the league is the prize we covet most.

Shoot-out

Ardrossan: Frye, Curragh (Miss), Simpson (Save), Pearson, Thomson (Save), Campbell, Howie, Cairns (Save)

Bankies: Little, Low, Syme (Bar), Graham (Save), Gallacher (Bar), McGonigle, Truesdale, Cairns

Match report written by Stuart McBay