Motherwell 3
Clydebank 1
League (Division 1)

Match Report

Title favourites Motherwell ruthlessly exposed a stark fact to life on Tuesday night Clydebank are not yet good enough for the Premier League.

The Fir Park side did what all true promotion candidates do, chased every ball and put away their chances. Unfortunately, Bankies did neither, and to add to this gave away two silly goals and a needless penalty.

Now, as they prepare for tomorrow's Scottish Cup-tie against Dunfermline, Sammy Henderson's men must realise no matter how good a footballing side you are, you can't do all this and still win games.

It's a pity that in the end 'Well had such a convincing victory, for Bankies did play some super football, spoiled, however, by bad passing and dreadful finishing.

Twice in the first half Blair Millar had golden chances to put Clydebank ahead. The first was brilliantly saved by Hugh Sproat, but the second, with the big striker in splendid isolation 15 yards out, posed the grey-haired 'keeper as many problems as a pass-back.

After the break, Bankies' accuracy was no better. After Millar had slammed home a great equaliser, Tom Coyne had a chance only yards from goal. He miskicked, however, and Sproat scrambled back to save on the goal-line.

Sandwiched between all this, Jim Gallacher made a dreadful blunder from a Gahagan free-kick, leaving Rafferty the simplest of chances to put the league leaders ahead.

To his credit, he had earlier made two great saves from Forbes and Gahagan, but their worth was cancelled out by that 37th minute mistake.

Gallacher, however, had no chance with the goal which put Motherwell back in front. This time, his defence let him down badly.

A high cross floated to the far post, and immediately the Bankies defence all rushed to the ball. Three, maybe four times they could have cleared, but when the ball finally broke, John Gahagan slammed it past the helpless 'keeper.

From that moment on, it was an uphill fight. Once or twice, Clydebank might just have snatched a second equaliser, but mostly it was the home side who did the pressing.

That pressure paid off nine minutes from time when Mark Treanor's clumsy challenge on the dangerous Stewart Rafferty resulted in a penalty. Gallacher' brave effort couldn't stop Brian McLaughlin's fierce spot-kick.

To make matters worse, Treanor joined Gerry McCabe, cautioned earlier for a late tackle, in Mr. Hewitt's black book when he stupidly insisted on disputing his decision. Why, oh why do players do this? No referee will change his mind because of a bunch of players pushing and insulting him.

Treanor's booking summed up the whole night for Clydebank. It was a ninety minutes full of frustration. The frustration of missed chances, of defensive mistakes, of the general realisation that they were out of their depth.

The team is young. It has a tremendous amount of natural talent. Certainly Bankies played all the football in a fast, fierce encounter with a physical home side. But that wasn't enough, for 'Well fought harder, played for ninety minutes and had the stronger legs on strength-sapping pitch.