Raith Rovers 3
Clydebank 0
League (Division 2)

Match Report

A second hat-trick by inside-right Pat Gardner was the highlight of Raith Rovers' comfortable and deserved victory over Clydebank at Stark's Park on Saturday. This was the home club's fourth successive League win and their sixth successive victory taking into account their last two League Cup matches.

Although the outcome was more or less as expected, Raith were a long time in taking advantage of their superior outfield play and all of the first-half passed without a goal being scored. Most of Rovers' moves during this period broke down around the penalty area and Wilson, in the Clydebank goal, had only two saves to make before the interval.

In general there were few weaknesses in the home line-up. There has been a tremendous improvement since the beginning of the League Cup competition, particularly in the defence which has conceded only one goal in the last three fixtures.

Bobby Reid, for instance, has been turning in excellent displays since his return to the side in place of Tommy Coates. Before business forced him to retire from regular football last season, he was prone to fumbling a high ball or being caught in the wrong position for a cross coming in from the touchline but he cannot be accused of such failings this season.

As a matter of fact, clutching the ball in the air has been a feature of his performances and his clever anticipation and interception of crosses from the wings brought numerous Clydebank attacks to an end on Saturday.

The visitors played an odd forward formation with outside-left Wark roving about the right-wing for much of the game. This often gave Alec Gray two opponents to contend with but he took it all in his stride. Bobby Stein thus was sometimes left without a man to mark and he spent much of the second-half up with the attack.

Manager George Farm appears to have a winner in the Davidson-Evans-Porterfield half-back formation. With the centre-half directing operations from the middle, the wing-halves occupy two rather different roles - Davidson primarily as a solid tackling defender occasionally taking part in an attack and Porterfield mainly as an attacker and splitting defences as only he can. When the latter's moves come off, they are brilliant but he can be careless and he will have to watch these lapses.

Pat Gardner was easily Rovers most industrious forward and he is playing with much more confidence now that he is finding the net regularly. Towards the end of last season he went thirteen games without scoring and this had a marked effect on his play. He started off the new programme by scoring the side's first goal and there has been an improvement ever since then. He is now the team's top scorer with seven goals to his credit.

Willie McLean, in the other inside-forward position had a similar unprofitable run before the end of last season and he has still to get over it. At the moment he is just not fitting into the attack and the question Mr Farm must face is whether he can afford to wait for Willie to makes his mark.

Johnny Richardson had chances to increase the winning margin. These he missed, but he still had a good game. He displayed several extremely skilful touches and there was one in particular when he juggled the ball between two defenders and brought the 'keeper to his knees with a snap shot. It was an opportunity lost, but it was a good effort.

Both wingers had quite long quiet spells while most of the attacks moved down the centre rather than along the touchlines. Nevertheless they played a part harrying the Clydebank defence.

In the first-half, Raith made much better use of the ball than Clydebank and, on pressure, should have been at least one goal ahead at the interval. Richardson had two chances - the first already mentioned and the second when Pat Gardner found him on the edge of the penalty box with a perfect pass. The centre lifted the ball over the bar from about 15 yards. Gardner himself had an equally poor attempt when Richardson set him up. The inside-right was unmarked but he took so long to control the ball that defenders began to crowd him and his hasty shot went past.

Rovers buckled down to some hard work in the second-half however, and Pat Gardner opened the proceedings with the best goal of the match. He was fully 25-yards out when he sent a rising shot thundering into the net and Wilson could only make a token attempt to save.

The visitors' goal had several close shaves as Raith followed up their first success and no one was surprised when a second goal came along in the 65th minute. This time Gardner gained possession inside the penalty box and shot on the turn. The ball was only half-hit and the inside-right was probably just as surprised as Wilson when it trickled into the net near the post. Pat's third goal two minutes from time was scored much more decisively. While Clydebank's defence stood still -for no apparent reason - he ran in to nod a Davidson lob past Wilson.

Match Report by Dunera (Fife Free Press)