Clydebank 5
Gartcairn 0
West of Scotland Cup (2nd Round)

Match Report

The scoreline reads like a routine day's work for Clydebank, and I suppose in the end it was, but up until the second goal went in this was quite the contest. In fact, Gartcairn were the better side for most of the first half.

The visitors top the Central League Division 2, and are in the winning habit, so it was no surprise that they came out in the early stages with their tails up. Even with the handicap of having no goalkeeper available, and striker Mark Tait wearing the gloves, Gartcairn looked like a more than capable side.

When the Bankies took the lead against the run of play after 16 minutes, it was Jordan Shelvey who supplied the finish. It has to be said that an actual goalkeeper would more than likely have saved the shot but Tait made a bit of a hash of it and fumbled it into the net. For a while after the goal it looked like the Bankies might open the floodgates, but Gartcairn did well to assume dominance and had the home defence worried at times.

The Bankies returned to a more familiar formation at the start of the second period with Vezza replacing the ineffectual Pearson. McAnespie's three at the back experiment failing in the first half. The Bankies shape looked better and began to open up the Gartcairn defence. After 50 minutes Higgins grabbed goal number five in four games after good work by Cunningham.

Gartcairn kept on plugging away but now the Bankies were content to let the visitors have the ball and pick them off when the opportunity arose. Three more goals were scored in a twelve minute spell. Shelvey finished off a fine move after 60 minutes to take his tally to 13 for the season. Cunningham then lobbed the keeper after a great through ball from McClair opened up the defence. McClair then scored his first goal for the club when he tapped in after the goalkeeper palmed out the ball into his path.

There were also some glaring misses, with Higgins being responsible for a real clanger. McClair made a great run to the goal line and he knock the ball across the six yard box. From no more than a few feet out, Higgins somehow managed to sclaff the ball off the crossbar.

That's now four wins in a row with 15 goals scored in the process; a feat which seemed highly unlikely before Christmas. Confidence must be high in the camp at the moment, and with another cup tie against lower league opposition next week, the Bankies will be looking to extend this run. There were no real star performers this week but Ryan Deas continued with his return to form, McClair had his best performance yet in a Bankies shirt, and substitute Alexander caught the eye and it will be interesting to see him again.

Match report written by Stuart McBay