Clydebank 3
Alloa Athletic 4
League (Division 2)

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Clydebank
3 - 4
 Alloa Athletic

League (Division 2)
Saturday, January 17th, 1970
New Kilbowie Park. Att. 638
3:00 PM Kick-off
Goalscorers
Alan Munro  (17)
Gerry O'Brien  (50)
Gerry O'Brien  (89)
Joe McCallan (47)
Joe McCallan (49)
Joe McCallan (69)
Billy Cunningham (82)

Team Managers
Jack Steedman
 Unknown.

Starting Eleven
1 Mike McDonald
2 Davie Mitchell
3 Danny Gray
4 Dennis Ruddy
5 Jim Fallon
6 Dougie Hay
7 Gerry O'Brien
8 Bobby Love
9 Tommy McGhee
10 Alan Munro
11 Jimmy Caskie
 Stewart Burgess 1
Alex Hodge 2
Bobby Gray 3
Jimmy Thomson 4
George Brown 5
Andy Campbell 6
Mike Marshall 7
Billy Cunningham 8
Joe McCallan 9
Jimmy Green 10
Gardner Brownlie 11

Bench
12 Paul McMillan
 Dave Fairlie 12

Substitutions
None. None.

Cautions
None. None.

Red Cards
None. None.
Match Officials

R Crawford (Referee)



Match Report

Clydebank Press

Clydebank should never have lost the two points from this match. They stormed through the Alloa defence and had the first half sewn up, all neat and tidy, but the second half was nothing short of a disaster.

Alloa started the game, a shabby and uncertain team, offering little intelligent resistance to precise and accurate Clydebank moves, but how they changed in the second half!

The home team became slack and uncertain, especially in defence. Led by "King Wasp," centre-forward McCallan, who scored a hat-trick, Alloa stung them painfully time and time again.

It was obvious that this was going to be a match to remember right from the beginning. After only four minutes Alloa had a goal disallowed.

McCallan, and Cunningham caught the Clydebank defence on the hop and manoeuvred the ball to the goalmouth, but it went for a corner. The ball came in from the right wing and was cleared. Both teams moved out after it, McCallan won the race and lobbed it back on to Cunningham's head and then into the top of the net. Jubilant cries from Alloa supporters were soon dampened as Referee Crawford shook his head.

Realising the danger, Clydebank began to move more smoothly. O'Brien and Caskie both passed like wizards and Alan Munro tested the strength of the Alloa defence to the limit.

O'Brien, after 16 minutes, took the ball upfield but missed his chance by taking on too many players. Bobby Love picked up a deflection and ran it along the bye-line. He crossed in across the goalmouth giving Alan Munro a chance for a header, but a split second mistake in timing robbed him of the chance to put 'Bankies into the lead.

A minute later, however, Love again gained possession on the right wing and sent in a long lob. Munro was spot on with a header and caught 'keeper Burgess hopelessly out of position, to score.

Clydebank settled down, for the remainder of the half, to whittling away the precious Alloa confidence, luring the visiting defence out of position on several occasions and giving Burgess a tough time of it.

I don't know what was said in the Alloa dressing room at half time but it was a changed team that took the field for the second half.

Leading the onslaught, which split Bankies right down the middle, was centre-forward McCallan, man of the match. It is doubtful if his hat-trick will ever be equalled at Kilbowie.

Refusing to be pushed down he kept coming back at the Clydebank goal and his determination paid off.

In the opening minutes of the second half he scored his first and Alloa's equaliser. He ran in solo, caught McDonald out of position and unleashed a cracker into the corner of the net.

Five minutes later he headed home a Marshall cross to put Alloa into the lead, but it looked as though their jubilation would be short-lived.

Retaliating, Gerry O'Brien got caught in a goalmouth melee at the Alloa end, and booted the ball out of a ruck of players into the net to put 'Bankies back on even terms.

Alloa had now tasted the spoils of success and it wasn't long before McCallan had scored his hat-trick. One thing was sure, the Wasps hadn't lost their sting!

In the 69th minute he gained possession close in to the Clydebank goal and tapped the ball past McDonald. Again, for the second time in the match the Alloa players had that sweet taste in their mouths.

And there was more to come. Cunningham, seconded only in the match by McCallan, wound up the game from the visitors' point of view with eight minutes of play left.

Sliding through the Clydebank defence he brought McDonald to his knees and scored.

A consolation goal was the lot of Gerry O'Brien in the closing seconds, Surprising the Alloa defence, he sent a long shot past Burgess.

Clydebank should have this game tied up in a neat little bundle but they didn't and it only goes to prove that these things can happen, though they shouldn't!

The home players did play a fine first half. They were proficient in all aspects of the game, but they lost the match because they were workshy in the second half.

Lazy is a word the Alloa players don't know the meaning of, that is why they won.

Alloa Advertiser

This was a game to warm the cockles of one's heart on a cold, blustery winter day. The sleet and strong wind were not conducive to good football but both teams rose above the conditions to provide a game that was a credit to the Second Division.

On play equality was the order of the day but the Wasps were just that bit sharper at goal with three-goal Joe McCallan the shining star. He has improved with every game and a deluge of goals looked possible from him at any time. Saturday was his day of glory and it couldn't have come at a better time; it enabled the Wasps to stop the rot of three successive defeats.

This was quite an achievement as the Steedman boys have improved greatly of late climaxed with a win at Brockville against promotion challengers Falkirk. No pushover for any team as this form suggests, but the Wasps rose to the occasion in the second half and fairly rattled in the goals. The intro- duction of Billy Cunningham gave the forward line more punch and took some of the load off Joe McCallan who showed his appreciation of his new found freedom with his best exhibition for the Wasps.

But this was a team effort from the Wasps with the defenders playing their part despite the loss of three goals. George Brown was the big man, literally, in this department with Stewart Burgess and Andy Campbell also catching the eye. The others also played their part; in fact there was not a weakness in this department. I would go as far as to say that the Wasps had not a weak link in their ranks.

And they had to be good as Clydebank turned on the style and perhaps were a shade unlucky in not sharing the points.

Their football warranted it but they lacked a Joe McCallan up front. They are a youthful team and are beginning to blossom out as a team to be feared.

Before an attendance of 600 (good under the conditions), Alloa opened with a flourish and had the Bankies defence under siege. There was a fire and urge about their play which had been absent for several games.

McDonald was a busy keeper. In the 4th minute Joe McCallan put the ball across goal and Billy Cunningham rose to head it home but the referee ruled Billy offside. Keeping up the pressure Alloa looked capable of opening the scoring at any minute but the defenders managed to hold out. Surviving the storm (Alloa provided, not weather-wise), the Bankies staged a blitz on their own account with the right-wing pair the focal point. In the 15th minute they opened the scoring, Munro expertly heading home a perfect cross from Love. Perhaps a bit hard on the Wasps to find themselves a goal down in the homesters' first raid.

This knocked some of the stuffing out of the Wasps and they were now forced on to the defensive. Bankies were now turning on the style and showed why they had been successful at Brockville Park, Falkirk.

But the Wasps with George Brown prominent weathered the storm. With the interval approaching the Wasps were again finding their forward urge with Joe McCallan ever in the thick of things and chasing every loose ball. But try as they might they could not break their duck and the interval whistle sounded with their score line blank.

On the resumption, Alloa asserted their early game supremacy and their urge was rewarded in the 47th minute when Joe McCallan thumped the ball into the net to register the equaliser. The Wasps were now 'turning on the heat and the Bankies defenders were being given the runaround.

Joe McCallan repeated the dose in the 51st minute with a gem of a goal from an all-out attack spurred on by good wing-half play.

Great stuff though I don't suppose this was to the liking of the home spectators.

O'Brien broke the spell with an equalising goal for the Bankies one minute later when he side-footed the ball into the net after a good right-wing move.

But the Wasps were not to be denied and went on the rampage for more goals. And it paid off in the 69th minute when Joe McCallan was at hand to prod home goal No. 3 for the Wasps and so complete a splendid hat-trick, each goal better than the one before. What a spate of goals although I suppose the home supporters would rather that the Bankies had been the scorers.

Billy Cunningham's goal in the 82nd minute put the result beyond doubt and it was a goal worth recording. He chased a pass into the home penalty area and by sheer persistence pushed the ball past the advancing McDonald. A goal that highlighted a success debut by Billy.

But Clydebank had not given up the fight as was signified by O'Brien's second goal in the 89th minute of the game. But it had arrived too late to affect the result and the final whistle blew.

Sunday Post

Cunningham's late goal not only set the seal on a well-earned Alloa victory, but typified his team's approach to the game. He chased a pass into the Clydebank penalty area, and, by sheer persistence, pushed the ball past the advancing McDonald.

Alloa were hard-working, hard-tackling and aggressive with centre forward McCallan leading the way with a well-taken hat- trick.

As the score suggests, however, there was little between the sides. Clydebank undoubtedly had the edge in skill, with O'Brien the best man afield.

They created as many chances as Alloa, but lacked their opponents' punch in front of goal.

Top performers were Gray, Ruddy, O'Brien and Love for Clydebank, and Thomson, Brown, Campbell, McCallan and Cunningham for Alloa.

Sunday Mail

A hat-trick in the second half, three goals in seven minutes and two late goals were the feature of this game.

A feeble Alloa team was dominated in the first half by Clydebank, whose inside-left Munro netted in the 15th minute.

Two minutes after the interval Alloa's McCallan placed the ball past McDonald, then four minutes later he scored again.

Then O'Brien slipped a neat goal past 'keeper Burgess in a goalmouth scramble.

But it was McCallan again who put his team ahead when he completed his hat-trick in the 69th minute.

Inside-right Cunningham put Alloa further ahead with only eight minutes left, but with only one minute of the game left O'Brien netted for Clydebank.



Squad Statistics (as at January 17th, 1970)

1969-70 All Time
League Cups All
Mike McDonald (GK) 14 - 3 - 18 -
Danny Gray 22 - 8 - 39 -
Jim Fallon 18 - 82614
Davie Mitchell 20 - 8 - 1374
Dennis Ruddy 23 - 4 - 67 -
Bobby Love 21 - 7 - 531
Tommy McGhee 1878212121
Dougie Hay 1818 - 762
Alan Munro 2210856230
Gerry O'Brien 2348 - 736
Jimmy Caskie 2311837427







Recent Results

League results since Clydebank's last match
10th January 1970
Arbroath2-1Cowdenbeath
East Fife4-1Forfar Ath
Stranraer4-1Hamilton Accies
17th January 1970
Berwick Rangers0-2Albion Rovers
Brechin City1-4Dumbarton
Clydebank3-4Alloa Athletic
East Stirlingshire1-3Queen of South
Hamilton Accies2-3Cowdenbeath
Stenhousemuir1-0Queen's Park
Stirling Albion2-1Montrose
Stranraer0-3Arbroath

League Table (as at January 17th, 1970)

Pld W D L +/- Pts
1. Cowdenbeath 24 15 6 3 +28 36
2. Queen of South 23 15 4 4 +17 34
3. Arbroath 25 15 3 7 +30 33
4. Falkirk 20 14 2 4 +30 30
5. Stirling Albion 24 11 8 5 +17 30
6. Alloa Athletic 22 13 2 7 +16 28
7. Dumbarton 22 11 5 6 +12 27
8. Berwick Rangers 21 11 3 7 +17 25
9. East Fife 24 11 2 11 +1 24
10. Montrose 23 9 4 10 -1 22
11. Clydebank 23 7 5 11 -16 19
12. Albion Rovers 23 7 4 12 -9 18
13. Queen's Park 24 7 4 13 -12 18
14. Brechin City 21 7 3 11 -15 17
15. Forfar Ath 24 8 1 15 -17 17
16. East Stirlingshire 20 5 5 10 -15 15
17. Stranraer 23 6 2 15 -15 14
18. Hamilton Accies 24 5 4 15 -26 14
19. Stenhousemuir 24 5 3 16 -42 13