Clydebank 2
Troon 2
League (West Region Premiership)

Match Report

A bit of a Jekyll and Hyde performance would be the best way to describe this 2-2 draw with a Troon side deep in relegation trouble. The Ayrshire men desperate for the points that will see them safe from the drop will probably be quite happy with this result. The Bankies played quite well in the first half in an open entertaining match but twice lost the lead and in the case of the second goal gave it away. The second half disappointed and will be remembered for nothing more than the ball being hoofed from one end to the other with no end product. A situation that was more to Troon’s liking with their aerial and physical dominance. Unfortunately, the Bankies were suckered into the visitor’s gameplan and failed to do much of anything in the second half.

The Bankies squad is a bit light in numbers, so there is not a lot of scope to change things around. Lee Duncanson came back into the side replacing late call off Dylan Coll in an otherwise unchanged side.

The Bankies looked confident early on and were rewarded with a quick goal after only four minutes. Jordan Shelvey sent Nicky Little clear on the right hand side of the box and the free scoring striker made no mistake by clipping over Johnstone and into the net.

It was all Clydebank, but the home side were shocked after Troon equalised just five minutes later with their first real foray into opposition territory. Troon gained a corner on the right hand side, and the flag kick picked out Gemmell who rose unchallenged to bullet a header into the net.

The Bankies should really have scored a barrowload of goals after this with several chances going a begging mainly due to some terrible finishing. The first was an amazing double chance with McClair missing a sitter when faced with a one on one with the keeper. The ball rebounded out to little who was faced with the same one on one, but he also failed to get it past Johnstone in the Troon goal.

Then, with 13 minutes on the clock Cammy McClair played a superb cross field pass to Shelvey who had a clear run at goal. However, his diagonal grounder did not have enough power and Johnstone saved.

Troon were still about though, and Waters spilled a free kick, and had to be quick to block the loose ball for a corner. The Bankies stopper showed up better from the resultant corner by tipping over Keenan’s goalbound header.

Clydebank finally retook the lead just before the half hour when a ball into the box was part cleared to Cammy McClair who drilled the ball into the corner for his first goal since January.

Shelvey had a further miss from a one on one when he slipped the ball past the wrong side of the post as the Bankies failed to capitalise on the numerous clear cut chances before they gave up the lead five minutes from the interval with a disastrous goal.

Stevenson broke into the penalty box and sportingly kept his feet as he appeared to be tripped. He placed the ball across the face of the goal for what seemed like an elementary claim for Waters, however he seemed to fumble the ball and scoop it up into the air where Pooler was waiting for a simple header home.

The second half by contrast was poor from a Clydebank point of view. Troon certainly closed ranks and ran themselves ragged in their pursuit of a vital point. The Bankies goal wasn’t particularly threatened, but the match descended into a long ball affair that just didn’t suit the home side.

The best chance in the whole second half fell to Nicky Little who fired wide of the keeper’s left hand post when he had a good clear sight of the goal. Other than that there wasn’t a whole lot to write home about.

Short of winning their last two games, it seems unlikely that the Bankies can improve their league position of seventh, with a possibility of dropping down one spot quite likely. It appears that everyone is now looking forward to the season ending and a return home to Clydebank in permanent surroundings. This, and with some new blood in the squad, hopefully the club can make further strides next season.

Match report written by Stuart McBay