Beith Juniors 3
Clydebank 1
League (West Region Premiership)


Beith Juniors 

3 - 1

Clydebank

League (West Region Premiership)
Saturday, May 11th, 2019
Bellsdale Park
2:00 PM Kick-off


Goalscorers
John Sheridan (8)
Paul Frize (23)
John Sheridan (60)
Liam Rowan (37)
(Assist Cammy McClair)

Team Managers
John Millar Kieran McAnespie

Starting Eleven
1 Stephen Grindlay
2 Conner McGlinchey
3 Steven Noble
4 Ryan Docherty
5 John Sheridan
6 John Middleton
7 Darren Christie
8 Paul Frize
9 Keir Milliken
10 Joe Bradley
11 Peter Haggarty
Marc Waters 1
Lee Duncanson 2
Matt McLean 21
Dylan Coll 14
Jamie Darroch 5
Liam Rowan 15
Ross Alexander 17
Sean Higgins 8
Nicky Little 6
Declan Fitzpatrick 18
Cammy McClair 7

Bench
12 Jamie Wilson
14 Kevin Green
15 Darren Ramsay
17 Kenny McLean
Chris Black 16
Jack McClair 19
Kieran McAnespie 23
Scott Morrison 20

Substitutions
Darren Ramsay -> Peter Haggarty (74)
Jamie Wilson -> Paul Frize (84)
Chris Black for Dylan Coll (25)
Jack McClair for Declan Fitzpatrick (61)

Cautions
None. Sean Higgins (55)

Red Cards
None. None.

Match Officials

Chris Hughes (Referee)
Ian Hart & Tony McGinn (Assistants)





Match Report


Rinse and repeat for the Bankies as they produce yet another sub-par performance and are well beaten by Beith at Bellsdale Park meaning the club can finish no higher than the seventh position they currently occupy. Apart from a fifteen minute spell prior to the break the hosts were always well on top and deservedly ran out 3-1 winners.

At the risk of repeating myself, I have been saying for weeks that the season can’t end soon enough for the Bankies with too many players off form. The already threadbare squad was further hindered by the absences of Shelvey and Vezza then a warm up injury to Paterson compounding matters.

This forced McAnespie to draft in young Dylan Coll into centre defence and throwing Fitzpatrick into an unfamiliar strikers role presumably to combat the physicality of the Beith back four.

It was a gamble that did not pay off. The Bankies elected to shoot up the substantial Bellsdale slope and that didn’t work either. Beith’s forwards were busy from the kick off and were giving the Bankies plenty to think about. It took only eight minutes for the home side to take the lead and it was a disaster for Marc Waters. If you want your goalkeeper to be one thing it is to be brave, but this was embarrassing for the Bankies stopper as the ball broke in no man’s land in the six yard box. Faced with a 50/50 challenge with Sheridan, Waters recoiled allowing the substantial defender an open goal to smash the ball into the net.

As the Bankies struggled Beith continued to profit and went two up after 23 minutes with a fine effort. A long ball up the right hand side found Christie who neatly pushed the ball inside to Frize who took it on his stride before lashing it high into the goal beyond the dive of Waters.

In fairness, to McAnespie he reacted to this rather than continuing with a failing tactic. He removed Coll from the action, allowing Fitzpatrick to return to his usual defensive berth. Chris Black came on to take up a midfield position and Higgins joined Little up front.

This change paid dividends as Clydebank played their best football of the match. Liam Rowan crashed a superb effort off the inside of the post after 33 minutes, and was unlucky to see it rebound away to safety. Rowan was to be rewarded just 4 minutes later however, when he got on the end of a McClair Crossfield ball. Making a late run in behind the Beith defence he fair bulleted the ball past Grindlay for a superb goal.

The Bankies started the second period in determined fashion and almost found an equaliser after 51 minutes when Duncanson burst through the Beith defence on the right hand side and rifled a low cross into the six yard box. Sean Higgins threw himself at it but it was just beyond his despairing lunge.

The game gradually swung back in Beith’s favour and they almost extended their lead after 57 minutes when Christie fired in a shot that forced Waters to tip the ball over the bar at his near post for a corner. It was from this corner that Beith got the killer third goal. It was Sheridan again who did the damage running across the Bankies defence to nod in a near post cross for a simple goal.

The remaining half hour was incredibly dull as the Bankies had no clue on how to get back into the game. Yet again, the long ball was the only tactic being deployed with McLean being the worst culprit for the long aimless punt. When they did try to pass it, they were robbed of possession in crazy positions almost leading to further goals for Beith. One such instance saw Milliken steal possession and lob Waters from 30 odd yards only to see the ball rebound off the crossbar. It was actually a relief to hear the final whistle.

The Bankies round off their season by facing Beith again at Lochburn Park on Wednesday night. There is not a lot to add to what has been said in previous reports. A good five or six players need to be recruited for next season. This term just kind of withered away after the Scottish Cup defeat against Hurlford. The last couple of months have been difficult viewing in a not unexpected way. I was hoping for a reaction and a statement of intent for next season, but instead we have seen the performances tail off. One notable thing looking forward to next season is our results again the top six clubs. With Beith still to play, we have had 11 games against these clubs and the record reads two wins and nine defeats. This is where we need to make inroads if we are to make any progress next season.

Match report written by Stuart McBay



Squad Statistics (as at May 11th, 2019)


2018-19 All Time
League Cups All
Marc Waters (GK) 28 - 10 - 47 -
Lee Duncanson 9 - 3 - 12 -
Dylan Coll 5 - 0 - 6 -
Declan Fitzpatrick 13141172
Matt McLean 8 - 5 - 341
Jamie Darroch 2721121017
Cammy McClair 2881235512
Liam Rowan 28110 - 381
Ross Alexander 21282404
Sean Higgins 20 - 81281
Nicky Little 26219610269
Jack McClair (sub) 15 - 61211
Chris Black (sub) 26192564







Recent Results


League results since Clydebank's last match
8th May 2019
Kilwinning Rgrs0-1Auchinleck Talb
10th May 2019
Troon1-0Glenafton Ath
11th May 2019
Auchinleck Talb1-0Largs Thistle
Beith Juniors3-1Clydebank
Cambuslang R2-1Petershill

League Table (as at May 11th, 2019)


Pld W D L +/- Pts
1. Hurlford United 29 22 3 4 +44 69
2. Auchinleck Talb 24 21 2 1 +47 65
3. Pollok 28 16 7 5 +27 55
4. Glenafton Ath 28 14 7 7 +19 49
5. Beith Juniors 26 13 8 5 +26 47
6. Irvine Meadow 30 14 5 11 -1 47
7. Clydebank 29 13 4 12 +13 43
8. Largs Thistle 28 10 10 8 +25 40
9. Kilwinning Rgrs 30 12 3 15 -5 39
10. Cumnock 30 10 4 16 -17 34
11. Troon 28 9 5 14 -7 32
12. Kilbirnie Lade 30 10 2 18 -19 32
13. Renfrew 30 8 6 16 -25 30
14. Kirk Rob Roy 27 7 7 13 -14 28
15. Petershill 30 5 3 22 -56 18
16. Cambuslang R 29 5 2 22 -57 17