Clydebank 2
Auchinleck Talb 1
League (WoSFL Premier)

Match Report

The best performance of the season. I could just put my laptop down and leave it at that, but that was a simply brilliant display put on by Clydebank tonight, and it deserves to be described. The 2-1 final scoreline belies what was witnessed as the Bankies defeated an exceptionally good Auchinleck Talbot side to take us within nine points of the league title.

The conductor was Nicky Low, and it was hard to believe he had missed the last ten games through injury. The whole game danced to his tune, and the range of passing he demonstrated was quite astonishing. The speed of thought, and some of the diagonal passes to open up the play were top top-drawer stuff. Both of the Bankies goals had Low in the middle of them.

You could go through the whole team with praise as the tempo and application was as good as anything we have seen this season, and they maintained it throughout the whole 90 minutes. The passing was fast, crisp, and accurate and it had to be as Talbot were a level up from what we have played in the league this season. The players responded magnificently, and it was a hugely entertaining game.

The two goalscorers deserve special mention. Lee Gallacher has taken a bit of flak recently, but this was his best game in a long time, and more like the player we know he can be. And, if anyone deserved a goal and the winner then it was Keir Samson. He’s like the T-1000 in Terminator 2 – utterly relentless and never gives up.

It was a bit of a surprise to see Nicky Low in the starting line-up as we knew he was close to full fitness, and to throw him in after such a long lay-off was a calculated risk – one that ultimately worked. It meant Hodge was on the bench with Grant returning to the right back position, The only other change from Saturday was Aaron Black replacing Craig Truesdale on the right wing.

Talbot who had gone eleven matches without defeat were quick off the mark. Tommy Sloan’s teams always play a high tempo game, and they move the ball forward quickly. This is not hit and hope stuff, but a calculated plan that his players know how to execute. If you don’t match their intensity, then they will roll over the top of you.

It took a wee while at the start for the Bankies to come to grips with this, but once we were up to speed, we went on to dominate the game. In the opening twenty minutes, a snapshot from the edge of the box from Tarek Abed which Leishman saved easily was the best that Talbot managed.

Clydebank’s attacks were of the almost, but not quite variety, and we scored with our first real shot at goal in the match. A first-time volleyed pass from Nicky Low sent the ball wide to Lee Gallacher out on the left wing. I doubt anyone would have guessed what would come next as he weaved his way across the field on the edge of the box, and counter-intuitively he shot with his left foot digging the ball like he was using a sand-wedge. The ball drifted over the despairing efforts of keeper Armour and clipped the underside of the bar on its way in.

The Bankies should have scored another three times in short order after this. Just two minutes after the goal, a glancing header by Samson from a Cairns cross drifted inches wide of the goal. The striker’s luck was out just minutes later when he did incredibly well to get a head on a cross that was just behind him, but again the ball slipped past the same post.

Goalkeeper Corey Armour then made a terrific reflexive save from a Dean Cairns volley that he must have seen extremely late as the ball flew through a sea of legs. He just about managed to get a foot to the ball and divert it to safety.

Talbot were never out of it, and they got a break at the other end when Andy Leishman spilled a dipping shot after 34 minutes. The big keeper has been outstanding recently, but unfortunately the ball fell for Ewan Thomson, and he slammed it past the prostrate keeper and into the net.

Clydebank started the second half in the same manner as they ended the first. David Syme had a header from a corner saved, then Keir Samson was sent clear, but under pressure his pile driver grazed the side netting as it narrowly passed the post.

The deserved goal finally arrived after 57minutes, and it was typical of the speed that the Bankies moved the ball all night. Low started it with a driven pass out to the right wing. Aaron Black took a touch and sent the overlapping James Grant down the flank, and his early cross to the back post was met by the head of Keir Samson. Possibly the keeper should have kept the ball out as he got a hand to it, but he and the ball both ended up in the net.

It became a bit of basketball match after that as Talbot tried desperately to get back in the game, even making a rarely seen quadruple substitution. However, Clydebank were always in control and always looked the more likely to add to their tally.

David Syme had the ball in the net but it was rightly chopped off for offside, and substitute Ciaran Mulcahy under hit a volley that he would have buried any other day of the week. Liam McGonigle also had a great chance to finish it when Carey and Biggar linked up and cut the ball back for the winger, but he sent his first time shot just wide of the target.

The Clydebank defence had to manage the game in the closing stages as the visitors were taking more risks, but with David Syme once again imperious, and Oisin McHugh spilling blood for the cause there was no way through.

This result now opens up an incredible twenty-two point lead at the top of the table, and only an asteroid hitting the Earth, a Tsunami, a Super-volcano, and nuclear war all at the same time can prevent the Bankies winning the league. If I’m wrong, then we can all look back at this paragraph and laugh (or cry!).

I’m going to give Nicky Low and Keir Samson my joint man of the match tonight. Lee Gallacher, Jimmy Grant, and David Syme would be next, but really you could make a case for any of the players. You forget how young Owen Carey is, and Dean Cairns is everywhere, so much so that you think there must be two of him. Also spot on stuff by the manager and his team. The tactics were on point, and the diagonal balls worked a treat, almost beating Talbot at their own game.

This was our last midweek game of the season, and we have a more sedate Saturday to Saturday schedule for the run-in. It is another big game though this Saturday at Holm Park as local rivals Drumchapel United will still be smarting from the 4-0 hammering the Bankies dished out six weeks ago. Kick-off is 2pm.

Match report written by Stuart McBay