Rothes 1
Clydebank 2
Scottish Cup (1st Preliminary Round)

Match Report

There were less than 200 at Mackessack Park for the first preliminary round of the Scottish Cup between Rothes and Clydebank.

The visitors won the toss and took a strong wind advantage. They forced the first corner which was scrambled clear.

Rothes were finding it difficult to make progress against the wind and were confined to their own half in the opening stages.

A quick pass by centre forward Russell beat the home defence and went to winger Rankin whose shot struck the side net.

Clydebank were piling on the pressure but not using the strong wind to their best advantage. Their keeper did not have a ball to handle in the first quarter of an hour.

The Rothes defence was fighting gamely but was being helped by the poor finishing of the Clydebank forwards.

There was a near miss for Clydebank when Russell just failed to edge the ball home at the upright and then a timely intervention by Gallagher after Rankin had dribbled past keeper Thompson saved a certain counter for the Bankies.

The longer Rothes held out the better the chances of getting on top and they were making a plucky job of a difficult task.

Rothes fans roared for a penalty when Middler appeared to be brought down going through, but the referee waved play on.

Hay was injured in a tackle. but the Rothes player appeared to be all right after treatment.

Clydebank had still to find the finishing touch and clever leading up work repeatedly broke down at goalmouth.

Just on the half-time whistle Colin Middler just failed to get his head to a high Hay cross.

Rothes took the lead three minutes after the restart. Ally McRae beat Collumbine out on the bye-line and crossed a lovely ball for Charlie Todd to head home. It was a well taken effort.

Minutes later Gallagher was assisted off with blood streaming from a head injury and Scott went on as substitute.

Thomson, who had been a hero for Rothes in the first half brought of a great save when Jenkins forced his way through to fire in from close range.

But Clydebank were showing up better against the wind than Rothes had done in the first half and they equalised in 59 minutes when Rankin hit the ball into the roof of the net from a Moy cross.

With five minutes to go Clydebank got a penalty award when Moy was brought down by McLean. The inside man took the kick himself and made no mistake.

Clydebank were just about worth their win on their second-half, showing.

Match report by Unknown (Aberdeen Evening Express)