Cumnock 1
Clydebank 1
League (WoSFL Premier)

Match Report

Clydebank escaped with a point against Cumnock following a one all draw at Townhead Park in a frenetic game. There are so many things to say about this match that it’s hard to know where to start, but it would be fair to say that Jamie Donnelly was the hero of the day, saving Findlay Frye’s penalty kick with just two minutes of normal time remaining.

The over-arching hope was that we could follow up last week’s win against Auchinleck Talbot, with a strong three points against an unpredictable Cumnock side. However, we didn’t play at all in the first half, and although better in the second half we always looked vulnerable to a counter attack. This didn’t improve when Cumnock went down to ten men, and by the time the Ayrshire side suffered a second red card the game was all but done.

I very rarely turn to the referee’s performance as I generally believe if you don’t win then you have to look to your own performance rather looking to blame others. Although Ross Menzies did not affect the result today, his officiating was at such a sub-standard level that he better hope there wasn’t an assessor present today.

How Andy McLaughlin stayed on the pitch in the first half is anyone’s guess after any number of bookable offences, as he then proceeded to caution six Bankies (seven if you include Kirk Forbes). The yellow card he handed out to Nicky Little for dissent after a phantom handball after the ball came off his head was laughable. It turned to amateur hour when he yellow carded Craig Truesdale and was subsequently going to send him off when he seemed to think he wasn’t on the team sheet. Team sheets had to be produced to dissuade him from this ludicrous course of action. A clueless display from the ref, and to prevent the notion of bias, I thought the other Andy McLaughlin was unlucky to receive a straight red for a high challenge on Matt Niven in stoppage time.

The team line up had a couple of changes with Truesdale coming in for Kelly, and Joe Slattery replacing the injured Frazer Johnstone. We mused prior to kick off whether Larry McMahon would have been a better replacement for Johnstone, and I think it had a material effect on the outcome. Johnstone hasn’t missed many games this season but the defeats at Benburb and Formartine United are amongst them. It is one of the few positions where we don’t have a ready made replacement, but McMahon is as close as we have in the squad.

Johnstone is the worker in the middle of the pitch. He does Nicky Low’s running for him, and as a result Low was much more subdued today. Slattery didn’t play badly at all, but the work rate Johnstone provides was sorely missing today.

The action in the first half was mainly towards the Clydebank goal despite having the wind at our backs. The Bankies fell behind after just six minutes with the first shot at goal. Jamie Wilson looped in a tremendous shot from well over 25 yards after he pounced on a loose ball.

This gave the home side a huge lift, and they were outworking the Bankies all over the pitch. Whenever we did get possession we were not careful enough with the ball constantly giving it away or over hitting long balls giving the forwards no chance to reach it.

Despite this Cumnock rarely troubled the Clydebank goal. Jamieson headed over after Craig Truesdale gave the ball away on the left wing, and Jared Willett curled a shot beyond the far post after he turned Danny MacKenzie inside out.

For the Bankies, Joe Slattery volleyed wide from the edge of the box, and for all of our faults we should have drawn level through Lee Gallacher after 26 minutes. Craig Truesdale has a number of neat tricks that didn’t quite work today, but one of the reasons he was signed was for the kind of through ball he played for Gallacher. It came straight out of the top drawer. Arguably, Gallacher could have taken another touch before shooting, but not being the fastest and with two defenders in pursuit, he tried to slide it past Barclay from the edge of the “D”. The keeper, despite his large frame, got down well to block, and Gallacher couldn’t get enough on the rebound to keep it on target.

Moffat surely went through his players at the break, as they were much improved. Nicky Little saw a volley from eight yards superbly saved by Barclay from a Mulcahy chip. Low sent a long shot past the post and Truesdale probably should have done better with a side-footed effort after being superbly set up by Gallacher.

Clydebank had Callum Graham stripped and ready to go, just as the equaliser came after 65 minutes. Lee Gallacher crossed from the right, and it was missed by everyone, but Nicky Little was able to cleverly nod the ball back across the box as the ball bounced up. He set up Ciaran Mulcahy perfectly and the striker headed powerfully into the goal from six yards. Graham put his jacket back on.

Within a minute Cumnock were down to ten men when goalscorer Wilson went recklessly over the ball as he went straight through Jimmy Grant. This led to the last 25 minutes being quite an end to end spectacle.

Despite being a man down Cumnock had several chances to win it. Carelessly playing out from the back resulted in McKenzie dispossessing McHugh, and his shot going narrowly wide. Then, a huge let off when McLaughlin hit a volley off the inside of the post from the edge of box. It was agonising watching the ball cross the goal, and thankfully stay out.

The mother of all let offs, however, was the penalty miss. The defence were standing like statues as the ball was threaded to McKenzie. I can’t vouch for the validity of the penalty claim, but the ref was almost pointing to the spot before Niven even made his challenge. The large Bankies contingent on the terraces were hoping for a miracle and Jambo delivered. He did a nice wee skip to his left before Frye hit the ball into that very same side and the keeper pushed the ball away to safety.

The Bankies had great chances to win the game in the closing stages themselves. Callum Graham sent a great pass across the six yard box, but the outstretched boot of Mulcahy only grazed the ball and flew past the post.

In the very last moments there were all sorts of pandemonium in the Cumnock box as the keeper dropped a Niven header, and there were bodies flying everywhere in an attempt to force the ball over the line, but to no avail.

So, the Bankies moved eight points clear at the top of the table, but St Cadocs, Darvel and Beith can all now catch us with their games in hand. Points are bound to be dropped, so It is unlikely if all, or any, of them will do so, but the race will almost certainly become incredibly close when these games are played.

It’s actually been a wee while since we played anywhere near our best. Obviously we are a target at the top of the table, but the players just need to calm down a bit and play their game. They are more than capable and are more than a match for all the other sides in the league.

We now have a massive two weeks ahead with Pollok at home next week and current champions Beith away the week after. Pollok are always highly motivated against Clydebank and any possible title aspirations they have hinge on this game. We do remain unbeaten in our last seven league games and we must extend this to keep the pressure on the clubs below.

Match report written by Stuart McBay