Clydebank 2
Hearts 1
League (Division 1)

Match Report

Those critics whose claim Scottish football is dying with its boots on should have been at Kilbowie on Saturday.

For promotion rivals Clydebank and Hearts proved yet again, given good weather, pleasant surroundings, and attractive football, people will still come to matches.

Bright sunshine and the attraction of a crucial First Division clash brought 1,731 fans to Kilbowie for the visit of Hearts, three times the attendance which watched the demolition of Queen of the South last week and the biggest league crowd of the season at Clydebank.

Whilst the Tynecastle side brought a large following, Bankies support was stronger and noisier than usual, with many families taking advantage of low admission charges.

Many of them will be back. This young Bankies side did the club and the town proud, beating an experienced and physical Hearts side, and scoring two of the season's finest goals in the process.

They showed great character during the second half, after losing a shambles of a penalty and being on the rack for a period when with a bit of luck Hearts could have sewn the game up.

The Edinburgh side, however, couldn't cash in on a succession of corners and Clydebank survived to grasp a late winner through Gerry Ronald.

Bankies had gone ahead early on in the second half through Martin Hughes, who will long remember his first goal for the side. Latching on to a Ronald pass, he took a couple of strides before shooting from just inside the box. The shot bent John Brough's fingertips before going in off the far post.

Soon after Hearts were level, and what a disaster it was for the Clydebank defence.

First, Willie Pettigrew was allowed to go through unchallenged, forcing Jim Gallacher to come off his line. The striker's shot beat the keeper but hit the post.

Budgie McGhie, following up, should have cleared, but he hit Pettigrew with the ball, and in the confusion the rebound hit Bobby Williamson.

Referee Delaney, not up with the play, gave a penalty and ex-Leicester man Pat Byrne scored in the corner.

Fourteen minutes from time Ronald raced into the box and squeezed a shot from almost the byeline past Brough and into the far corner of the net.

Bankies knew then that they had won an important victory. It was a game, not for the purist, but for all those fans who admire the qualities which made Scottish football great skill, speed, action and, above all, fight.

Unfortunately, the second half saw fight of the wrong kind, with Tom Coyne and his marker, Walter Kidd, getting involved in a running vendetta which, to be fair to the Clydebank man, stemmed mainly from the Hearts full-back..