Clydebank 0
Raith Rovers 0
League (Division 1)

Match Report

Most of the 590 fans who saw this pitiful game drifted away five or ten minutes before the final whistle. But quite frankly, we could all have gone home long before that.

It was obvious early in the game it would take a defensive error, a penalty kick or a freak happening - such as a forward shooting straight to break the deadlock.

We almost got a goal right at the end when Gerry Ronald whipped a shot against Tommy Walker's right-hand post, but it was almost inevitable that Tommy Coyne would miss the rebound, not because of any great deficiency on his own part, but simply because that's the kind of day it was for Clydebank.

Come to think of it, I seem to have made that excuse for Bankies quite a few times this season.

More often than not, I've put missed chances down to bad luck, frustration and various acts of God. Maybe it's time to get to the point and call it bad finishing.

Blair Millar, for instance, spent much of the game sharing a running joke with some fans behind the goals, and when he finally did get a clear-cut chance, a close range volley after defender Bobby Ford mistimed his header, he ballooned the ball out of the ground.

That was one of the few real chances Clydebank made on the day when the final nail was driven into their promotion coffin.

They could, in fact, have lost both points. Three times Jim Gallacher had to pull off excellent saves to keep his side in the game.

First, he dived to tip away a Houston header just before the interval. Then he knocked a point-blank drive from Ballantyne for a corner.

Minutes from the end Steen burst through the Bankies defence, only for the big keeper to stick out a foot and divert his shot past the post.

Incidents such as these, however, were few and far between in the poorest match seen at Kilbowie this season.

Both sides treated the game as a bit of a stroll in the warm sunshine which enveloped Kilbowie for most of the afternoon.

However, while they might have enjoyed the walk, the meagre crowd were none too pleased with their attitude.

Whatever the price, when people pay to watch a game of football they are entitled to some sort of return for their money.

Two teams of professional footballers content to stroke the ball around for 90 minutes without getting anywhere is not value for money.

What the game needed was an injection of pace, a burst of enthusiasm. The man who could have given Bankies just that, Bobby Williamson, stayed kicking his heels on the bench throughout.

He must feel aggrieved at being ousted from the right-back position after playing so well as stand-in for Mark Treanor. On Wednesday, Sammy Henderson played him up front in place of Tommy Coyne. On Saturday he was left out altogether.

Martin Hughes came on for Campbell McKeown late in the game, but the two are so similar in style that the change had little effect.

And so that looks like that for another season. Following the departure of the hordes from Tynecastle, there was still a faint chance that a good win over struggling Raith Rovers would perk Bankies up enough to mount one final challenge.

That win didn't materialise, and with the loss of a point went Clydebank's hopes promotion