Clydebank 0
Darvel 1
League (WoSFL Premier)

Match Report

Scott Ferguson’s stunning goal just after the half hour was enough to give Darvel all three points at Holm Park tonight and keeps them on the coat tails of League leaders, Beith.

For the Bankies, it was a decent display but once again we came up short and it is now an unwanted record of four defeats from the last five matches at home.

Gordon Moffat took the opportunity to shuffle the pack with the cup semi-final in mind on Saturday against St Rochs. This meant that the Bankies only player with a 100% appearance record - Lee Gallacher - wasn’t even on the bench and Nicky Low was named as a sub.

Liam McGonigle and Joe Slattery made the starting eleven as they try to come back from injury, and there was no Nicky Little whose shoulder injury will see him take no further part this season.

The first half was played out in the teeming rain, and it was an entertaining affair with both teams enjoying good spells of possession.

However, it was the Bankies old enemy of not being able to put the ball in the back of the net that cost them dearly. It was a miss after 18 that minutes that should have seen the home team take the lead.

Higgins battled well for the ball and released Larry McMahon down the right wing inside the box. The big midfielder cut it back perfectly for Alan Kelly, and from around 12 yards drilled the ball wide of the post when he really should have scored.

Clydebank had been looking good at this stage with Larry McMahon reveling in his role giving him the freedom to get forward and his endless energy closing the Darvel defence down throughout the match.

Darvel are a dangerous lot coming forward though and the Bankies centre two of Niven and Little were caught ball watching as a simple dink to the edge of the box was too easily laid off by Ferguson to Moore. The forward rattled the ball off the cross bar with Donnelly rooted to the spot.

It was just a few minutes later that Darvel took the lead with a top quality strike from Ferguson. A quick corner was played to the edge of the box, and Higgins should have been on top of it, but he was miles away from Ferguson who side stepped him and curled a beauty into the postage stamp.

The first half ended in a flurry of bookings with four being shown the yellow card, including Darvel boss Kennedy who had too much to say for himself.

Last week, I mentioned that not being clinical enough in front of goal was letting the Bankies down and it reared its ugly head again.

Just six minutes into the second half, Connor Higgins made a great break forward. With options on either side of him he opted to slide the ball out to his right to Kelly.

There were two problems from here on in. Kelly slid the ball across the box perfectly, but one: Hamish McKinlay should never have gotten himself into an offside position, and two: to not even hit the target was criminal. The Bankies were not making many chances against difficult opposition, so you need to take them when you get them and this was just a waste.

After this Darvel had three great chances to extend their lead. Moore hit the inside of the post when put clean through, then Donnelly had the most amazing double save with two point blank stops, and finally Moore guided a close range header past the post when he really should have done better.

The last half hour never brought any particular good goalscoring chances for either side. The Bankies forced a number of corners, but never truly looked like getting a goal and Darvel had a handful of dangerous moments on the break without ever threatening the Bankies goal.

Overall there wasn’t a great deal in it. In general play there wasn’t much to choose between the sides. Darvel had more better chances and took one, and the Bankies will need one of the forwards to step up to the plate in the absence of Nicky Little.

Clydebank’s season now rests on the West of Scotland Cup Semi-final against St Rochs on Saturday. Hopefully the Bankies will take a strong travelling support through to the James McGrory Park as the Bankies seek to reach their first cup final since 2017.

Match report written by Stuart McBay