East Kilbride Th 2
Clydebank 1
League (Super Division One)

Match Report

Clydebank blew the chance to go top of the Stagecoach 1st Division when they turned in a horror show at East Kilbride’s Show Park on Saturday. The last two weeks have seen the Bankies in league action whilst all the other sides have been involved in cup competition. Admittedly, the Show Park and Fullarton Park – the scene of last weeks disappointing draw with Vale of Clyde – have never been happy hunting grounds for the club. However, both of these sides have been struggling in the bottom half of the league and it was considered a great opportunity for the Bankies to stamp their authority in this division.

Sadly, it did not work out that way, as the Bankies could not turn chances into goals at Vale of Clyde, and then proceeded to put in their worst performance of the season at East Kilbride, especially in the first half. East Kilbride adjusted to the tricky conditions due to the bumpy pitch, and for the first half hour had the Bankies pinned back.

Although, they had not troubled Liam Campbell in the Bankies goal, it was no real surprise when they took the lead after 28 minutes when Anton Heffron headed in at the near post after making a fine run across Barry Crawford.

The Bankies could have equalised soon after when McComish volley past from close range from a Paul Allum cross. However, that was the only bright spot in a match that was about to go from bad to worse when Darian MacKinnon was shown a straight red card for an off the ball incident.

The Bankies proceeded to fall to pieces and were lucky to keep the score at 1-0 at the break after East Kilbride rattled the cross bar and then the post. They also had a loud claim when they believed that a shot crossed the line as Campbell clutched the ball, however the officials waved away the claims.

Despite having an extra man on the field, East Kilbride did not press home their advantage, and as the match approached the 60-minute mark, the Bankies began to get a foothold in proceedings. A glimpse at goal was created when Barry Crawford headed a Scott Highlands cross straight at Murdoch. The Bankies cane close again when Tommy Martin drove towards the Thistle goal and was unlucky to see his shot go wide.

With quarter of an hour remaining the Bankies got the reward for their persistence when Barry Crawford drew the sides level. Stevie Dallas headed the ball off the post from a deep cross, and Moffat was blocked with the follow up. However, it was third time lucky for the Bankies when Crawford rammed the ball home from six yards out.

At this stage it looked like the ten men Bankies would go on to complete an unlikely comeback, but chasing the three points was to be their undoing as East Kilbride scored with a classic sucker punch with only four minutes remaining. In truth, not enough pressure was applied to Murch as he received the ball in the box, but he still had to find a great finish to score, and he did it with some aplomb as he curled the ball into the net.

The action wasn’t quite finished as Thistle ended up with only ten men on the field as Russell was ordered off for a blatant elbow to the face of Stevie Dymock.

For the second week in a row the Bankies have disappointed the travelling fans, and will now seek to rectify matters when they are on the road for the third week in succession against Kilwinning Rangers.

* Darian MacKinnon's red card was later rescinded.

Match report written by Stuart McBay