Inverkeithing HS 0
Clydebank 11
South Challenge Cup (1st Round)

Match Report

You never wish to be presumptuous when you visit a club like Inverkeithing Hillfield Swifts, but after their 7-1 annihilation by Gala Fairydean Rovers in the East of Scotland Cup a fortnight ago, the result today seemed all but a foregone conclusion. The Bankies indeed strolled into the next round of the Challenge Cup scoring eleven times without reply.

The Swifts who ply their trade in tier eight of the Pyramid were a very young team and they were simply no match for their much more experienced counterparts. This Clydebank side love nothing more than a good artificial surface with the sun on their backs and the players clearly enjoyed their day out at Dalgety Bay.

Personally, I don’t especially enjoy games that you expect to be very one-sided and actually turn out that way. However, I’m sure the management see the benefits, particularly to ease in some of our longer term injury worries with Ciaran Mulcahy, Matt Niven and Frazer Johnstone all taking part at some point in the game. Also, there are a few players who have been on the edges of the starting eleven such as Adam Hodge, Stuart McCann and Billy Hutchison who were all given a decent amount of game time.

To briefly discuss the game itself, it was pretty much over after ten minutes of play. The Swifts did give a moment of brief concern after only 17 seconds of play when Dylan Vannett hit a speculative shot from the left wing which clipped the top of the bar, but it took just seven minutes for the Bankies to get the ball rolling.

If you are massive underdogs the last thing you need is a wonder goal and then an own goal but that’s what we got. The opener was easily the most spectacular of the day as Dean Cairns volleyed in a Lee Gallacher corner kick from the edge of the box. It was another great goal from Cairns whose shot was directed with great technique and care. Within moments number two arrived courtesy of an own from Glenn Sibbald who deflected the ball into his net.

The goals arrived at regular intervals after that. Aaron Black fired in a Hodge through ball to make it three and two more goals were added to the total before half time from Mclaughlin and McCann.

No time was wasted after the restart when David Syme headed home from a corner kick on his 50th appearance for the club. The seventh goal was added by Keir Samson who had only just come onto the pitch as he put away a Craig Truesdale through ball, and Aaron Black scored his second after being set up by Samson.

With just half of the second 45 still to go, Ciaran Mulcahy came on for his first appearance of the season following his hernia operation. He celebrated by scoring a thirteen-minute hat-trick to rack up the final score of eleven. Incidentally, I make that 25 different players to score a hat-trick, of which there have 68, for the Bankies since 1965. If you’ve got a spare ten minutes, see how many you can name.

In terms of individual performances, I don’t think you can read into this game too much due to the standard of opposition, however Aaron Black is an incredibly exciting player when he is on his game. We don’t have another player quite like him in the squad and he can be very pleased with his contribution.

Young Billy Hutchison had a fine second half after coming off the bench. He looks very accomplished on the ball but could do with putting on a stone or two before risking him against some of our more battle-hardened opponents. It was also great to see Frazer Johnstone make a return after a year out and hopefully he is finally putting his injury worries behind him. And finally, a great return for Ciaran Mulcahy who can offer a different dimension in the number 9 position. He would have been the ideal player against the height and brawn of the Cowdenbeath defence last week with his aerial ability.

So, we quickly move back to league duties once more as Stirling University visit Holm Park on Tuesday. The Bankies were knocked off the top spot of the table by a free-scoring Linlithgow Rose who had a great result against Celtic B and look like they are going to take some stopping. The Uni boys have picked up recently after a poor start, and hopefully the confidence from today’s game will carry us forward to another victory.

Match report written by Stuart McBay