Dunfermline 3
Clydebank 6
League (Division 1)

Match Report

Unlike wars of history, won by legends on the playing fields of Eton, promotion campaigns very often stand or fall on inauspicious ground.

Many a valiant bid to escape the clutches of the lower divisions has floundered at such venues as Palmerston Park, Dumfries; Brockville, Falkirk; and Starks Park, Kirkcaldy. Ah yes, and East End Park, Dunfermline.

Knowing this, Clydebank could have been excused a degree of trepidation at their visit to the Fife town. Indeed, the early stages of this extra-ordinary clash bore this out.

Dunfermline, fresh from a welcome point away Hearts, went straight at to a strangely nervous Bankies' defence and should really have scored more than the two excellent first-half goals they did manage.

In the end, though, they let Clydebank off the hook and paid for it in a second half when just about everything that could go wrong for them did.

What did happen in the first 20 minutes of that amazing second period came as a surprise, to say the least. For the first half had seen the Pars give the visitors a roasting for long spells, without ever putting the result beyond doubt.

When Clydebank did manage to tame the speed and power of strikers Sandy McNaughton and Grant Jenkins, they looked pretty useful, and Blair Millar's two first-half goals frustrated the home side's ambitions.

The half-time talk among the assembled press threw up two very relevant points. Firstly, that Dunfermline were inclined to fade out after the interval at home, and also that Bankies would exploit any space given to them by the Pars' defence. Both turned out to be truer than any of us imagined.

But let us take it from the top. Grant Jenkins got the Pars off to a great start, volleying high past Gallacher from Morrison's knock-down in the seventh minute.

The bearded forward might have had another goal two minutes later, but Gervaise's deflection took his drive for a corner. Almost immediately, Doug Considine headed home a corner, but Gallacher had been fouled and referee David Syme chalked the goal off.

I doubt if anyone else had noticed, but Blair Millar always seems to get his goals straight after a bad miss and so it proved with the equaliser.

Seconds after the big man had missed a golden opportunity from a Gerry McCabe through ball, he latched onto a great Ronald reverse pass and slipped a shot under the advancing Young. The home side's appeals for offside were half-hearted at best.

At this stage it looked as if Bankies had got over that early attack of the jitters, but a magnificent Hugh Hamill goal after 27 minutes shattered them.

A brilliant run, took the ex-Hibs man from the half- way line, past four slack challenges and on to the edge of the box, from where he" wheeched the ball into the net.

It was a superb effort, and just reward for a first half of sheer endeavour from Hamill. Bankies, having looked good around the time of the equaliser, were reduced to a poor-looking outfit, and should have gone further behind when Mark Treanor made a dreadful mess of a pass-back, and let Sandy McNaughton in. Jim Fallon came to the rescue, though, with a no- nonsense clearance.

Five minutes before the break, Blair Millar was helped from the field, clutching his forehead, after a goalmouth clash. However, the blow must have done him some good, for on his return he latched on to a fine McCabe pass, turned inside Considine and placed the ball low past Young's right hand.

Millar completed his hat- trick in true opportunist fashion minutes into the second half. Treanor, McCabe and Ronald combined to let Coyne in on the goal-line. Somehow Tom missed with a defender on his tail but, with the ball stuck in the mud, Blair slammed the ball high into the net.

A few minutes later and Dunfermline were dead and buried. Considine's slip let Gerry Ronald steal the ball and, after rounding Young with consummate ease, he held off to regain his balance and shot into the empty net. Goals number five and six were both disasters for the below-par homesters. First, Leishman missed his kick near the by-line, allowing Campbell McKeown to cross and Millar to notch his fourth with a close range drive, and then came the silliest goal of the season.

It was all so quick. McCabe took the corner, Coyne ran in front of the full-back on the front post. The ball went through the full-back's legs and trickled past the goalkeeper. Red faces all round.

The rest, to be blunt, was boring. Bankies eased off to the point of walking, and Dunfermline's McNaughton scored..

I must point out what fine vocal support the small group of visiting fans gave their heroes at East End Park, Last week the "Press slammed the stay-away fans, but this match showed those who do go to games are among the best there are.

Blair Millar's four-goal exploits at East End Park could be just the thing to send scouts from the top Scottish clubs scurrying to Kilbowie to watch the big striker.

His clinical performance against Dunfermline, when he knocked in four out of six clear chances, must have made several Premier League outfits prick up their ears, especially with one or two of them finding it hard to hit the back of the net these days.

It would, however, take an awful lot of hard cash to shift the 25-year-old forward from Kilbowie Park and no doubt Sammy Henderson would be more than pleased to see Millar, probably Scotland's most consistent goalscorer over the past few seasons, stay in the Clydebank line-up for some time, to come.

One man who will be thinking seriously about his future, though, is Gerry McLauchlan. Side-lined by injury a few weeks back, he has seen veteran defender Jim Fallon fill his sweeper's role almost faultlessly. McLauchlan has been the transfer list for some time now, and while he is under contract until the end of the season, the continued good form from Fallon and his partner Budgie McGhie could make it easier for Bankies to let him go if the right offer came along.