Clydebank 3
St Rochs 4
West of Scotland Football League Cup (3rd Round)

Match Report

Oh well, you can’t win them all! The unbeaten run had to end at some point, though few would have picked this to be the day that it would happen as the Bankies lost to First Division St Rochs by four goals to three in the West of Scotland League Cup.

Unfortunately, a whole slew of possible records went by the wayside. Connor Keaney’s chance to equal the club record of seven consecutive cleans sheets was gone after just eight minutes, and the twenty-match unbeaten run held by Gordon Moffat in 2021 remains intact as we fall at the twenty-match hurdle. Perhaps the most disappointing one from the manager’s point of view is a first ever defeat by a lower league side in a cup.

So, what went wrong that we found ourselves 4-1 down after just thirty-five minutes of play in a season that we had not lost more than one goal in a single match up until today. Were we being a bit ‘big time’ after being drawn against Hibernian in the Scottish Cup? If that was it, then we have learned a valuable lesson.

Were the missing Matt Niven and Nicky Low a factor? Possibly, but both of these players have missed parts of the season already and the squad have coped with that without a problem. There were a considerable number of other changes that could have been disruptive, but most of the replacement players have contributed significantly throughout the season.

More likely, it was that we just didn’t play very well. What I would say is that we were terrible at closing the ball down in the first half. We had one or two players on the pitch who like to contribute when we have the ball, and not so much when we don’t. In this day and age, you just can’t have that, and three half-time substitutions suggest that I’m not alone in that assertion.

We actually started off quite well in the opening minutes when Daramola hit the side netting with a lob that he probably should have scored from, but soon after the fun and games began after we were badly exposed on counter attacks. I’m not sure if St Rochs scored four goals from four attacks, but for the first time this season our defence was wide open.

The first goal came from a breakaway down the right wing, and Jimmy Grant was left for dead. The ball was squared across the six-yard box for Slaven who steered the ball into the net giving Keaney no chance.

The second was a tad unlucky as an overhit direct punt over the top skidded off of McHugh’s head, but all it succeeded in doing was taking the pace off the ball and it landed at the feet of Galasso who drilled the ball home.

Due to the Bankies form this season, you still had faith that we could turn this around if we pulled a quick goal back, and we did this after twenty-four minutes from a Lee Gallacher corner which was helped into the net by keeper Stark under pressure from Keir Samson.

However, no sooner had we scored the goal, we then proceeded to concede again within three minutes. Once again, we were wide open at the back as the ball was moved quickly to Galasso. The striker very cleverly chipped the ball in at the near post when you might have expected him to put his laces through it.

There is no doubt that the Bankies were stunned, and we incredibly went on to lose another after thirty-five minutes. Once again, we were all over the place defensively and although Keaney did manage to put in a save this time, McCracken followed up with a tap-in to make it four.

Clydebank gave themselves an outside chance of a second half comeback when Keir Samson pulled a second goal back on the stroke of half time. A St Rochs defender accidentally headed the ball past his own keeper, and Samson was quickest to react when the ball rebounded back off the post.

I don’t think Gordon Moffat had much option but to bring on Little, Mulcahy and McGonigle at the interval as an early goal would have put us back in with a shout of taking the match to at least a penalty shoot-out.

However, an early goal never came, and you have got to credit the St Rochs defence who became evermore entrenched as the half progressed. They were still a threat on the breakaway as the Bankies committed more and more men forward and they could easily have snatched a fifth goal, but by and large they had to defend as though their lives depended on it.

Unusually, the Bankies never really looked that we could score a goal from open play. We had a number of corners but couldn’t make them pay dividends. Ciaran Mulcahy was most unlucky after an hour when his header from a tight angle hit the inside of the opposite post, and the ball fell kindly for a defender to hack away.

Lee Gallacher should have scored as well, and if you gave him the chance another ten times he probably would, but when the cross from Grant found him in the box, the winger ran his foot over the ball and fell over just as it looked like he was going to burst the net.

The deficit was cut to a single goal with nine minutes remaining when Lee Gallacher curled in a beautiful free kick after Nicky Little had been fouled on the edge of the box. Chaos should have ensued after this, but we just didn’t carry that little bit of luck that would have brought us level.

The closest was a Cairns header from eight yards out, that came of the legs of Stark. The goalkeeper didn’t even see it, and it was just his good fortune to be in the way, but in truth we should never have allowed ourselves to be in that position, and St Rochs will rightly claim it as a famous victory that few would have given them much chance of before the kick-off.

The only saving grace is that it was a cup game that we decided not to show up for. And not only that, the most inconsequential cup of the lot. In saying that, you want to maintain the winning mentality and you don’t want to let any fragility sneak into our play.

The most important thing now is about how we react to this. We face an incredibly tricky league fixture at Loch Park against Glenafton on not the greatest grass pitch the world has ever seen. The Glens had a great win away at Gartcairn today making it five games without defeat since new manager Paul Paton took over. We were fairly fortunate to take the points against Glenafton at the same time last year, and we appear to be taking on a team who have a bit of form about them. Our critics have been waiting all season for this, so all thoughts of big cup ties need to be forgotten about, and we need to straighten the cart.

Match report written by Stuart McBay