Gretna 2008 0
Clydebank 2
League (Lowland League)

Match Report

Clydebank extended their unbeaten start to the league campaign to nine matches after a hard fought 2-0 win at Gretna 2008 despite being subjected to some industrial tackling throughout the match. There was significant cost for the three points as David Syme was injured in the first half, and Matt Niven just about managed to struggle on to the final whistle despite noticeably hobbling.

Chris McGowan is the last man standing from the backline (and goalkeeper) who started the season against East Stirlingshire. We can ill-afford further injuries to the defence, and hopefully the knock Niven took is nothing serious. More positively, the return of Owen Carey was a great boost, and he looked like he had never left. The full back was an integral member of the squad in the run-in to the West of Scotland Championship last season and hopefully the club can work something out to keep him at Holm Park.

The records continued to tumble at Raydale Park as the Bankies have now gone 19 league games unbeaten on our travels including winning 6 wins on the trot at the moment. We also can’t fail to mention the incredible achievement of Nicky Little scoring his 200th goal for the club. It would have been nice for it to have been in a game of greater importance and preferably not from the penalty spot, but you’ve got to take the chances when they present themselves. I said in Ken Eadie’s biography page that his total of 175 goals was unlikely to be unbeaten, but here we are. Maybe, I should update that page!

There were two changes to the line-up for this clash, both injury enforced, with Jimmy Grant and Oisin McHugh both out. Matt Niven started just his second game of the season, as Chris McGowan moved out to left back. Craig Truesdale took over from Grant, but hopefully we will see Dean Cairns back in action shortly as he was named on the bench and appears to nearing full fitness.

The over-riding theme of the first was half the offside rule. I’m glad that I don’t track offside statistics as there would have been some kind of record set for the amount of times Clydebank committed the offence. Some of the decisions looked remarkably tight, but to be honest nobody in the Clydebank support had an adequate angle to conclusively say the linesman got it wrong.

Once again, we were met with an opponent who were fired up and were clearly raising their game in front of Gretna’s largest attendance of the season. Who would have thought the Bankies would be such a desirable scalp? Sean McKenzie is an old-fashioned rambunctious centre forward and he is not shy about putting himself about. He was involved in both injuries to Syme and Niven, and his late tackle on Adam Hodge after the ball was gone was lucky only to be met with a yellow card.

The “Hodge” tackle was repeated several times over the course of the match, and further yellows were handed out to Weir, Orsi, and Cranston. The Orsi tackle was particularly poor as he had two kicks at Clydebank players in the space of five seconds, and Owen Carey almost let his temper get the better of him when Cranston was blatantly late in the challenge. I only hope the Gretna players show the same level of commitment when they play Newmains next week.

All the while there was a game going on, and the Bankies as usual controlled the possession, but found Gretna a tough nut to crack. Too many attempts at long balls over the top were leading to too many offside decisions, though we found ourselves in decent positions on many occasions.

Samson headed a Gallacher corner wide, and then the striker made a mess of a great chance after being put through by McLaughlin when he scuffed his shot wide. The injury to Syme followed, and Gretna’s best chance of the half fell to McKenzie as the Bankies were still adjusting to the upheaval. McKenzie found himself in space around 25 yards from his goal and his curling shot smacked off the base of the post with Stott beaten.

The Bankies responded to this threat and a Craig Truesdale effort was tipped over the bar, followed by a glaring miss from Aaron Black when he volleyed a Carey cross from the left over the bar. Nicky Low also tried his luck with a long range shot before the Bankies finally took the lead.

It came from a corner kick flighted in by Lee Gallacher. Matt Niven made the near post run and his header came off the underside of the bar. The ball landed on the line, but appeared to spin over on the upward bounce. It needed an intervention from the linesman to confirm that the ball had indeed gone in.

McLaughlin had the ball in the net again before the interval, but the flag went up once more.

The second half opened in similar fashion, with Clydebank probing but lacking a killer final ball. Samson and Truesdale both had half chances, while Little’s angled shot was comfortably held by Atkinson.

The Gretna keeper then produced his best spell of the game. He made a superb stop from McLaughlin on the turn, blocked Gallacher after a weaving run, and denied Mulcahy when the striker should have done better.

With just a goal in it, Gretna sensed a chance late on. Stott failed to hold a dangerous cross and McKenzie looked certain to score, only for McGowan to throw himself in the way with a magnificent block – a moment that defined his man-of-the-match performance.

Deep in stoppage time, Mulcahy showed great composure to release Little clean through. The striker should have scored but fired straight at Atkinson. The rebound fell to Low, who was hauled back by Weir before he could shoot. The inevitable red card followed, and Little stepped up to calmly dispatch the penalty for his landmark 200th goal, sealing the points.

As mentioned above, Chris McGowan was my man of the match, but honourable mentions go to his defensive team-mates, Niven, Hodge and Carey. Further forward, the performance was patchier, with a number of players failing to make the most of promising positions.

The win keeps Clydebank on the heels of Linlithgow Rose, who claimed an impressive result against third-placed Bo’ness United. Increasingly, it looks like a straight fight between the Bankies and the Rose for the title. Next up, the sides meet at Prestonfield in the South Challenge Cup – a tantalising dress rehearsal for their league clash in November.

Match report written by Stuart McBay