Bo'ness Utd 2
Clydebank 5
League (Lowland League)

Match Report

Clydebank returned to the summit of the Lowland League for the first time since matchday four with an utterly ruthless display against Bo’ness United at Newtown Park tonight. Four up at the interval, the Bankies stretched the lead to five shortly after the restart, but perhaps a little bit of uncharacteristic carelessness allowed an ever-eager Bo’ness side to claw back a couple of goals in the last quarter of the match.

You can look at it two ways: did the loss of the two late goals take the shine off a wonderful 70 minutes of play, or can you forgive the players for taking their foot off the gas with the game, to all intents and purposes, over? Whatever way you slice it, it doesn’t matter — the bottom line is that the three points are coming back to Holm Park, and it adds just a little extra pressure on Linlithgow Rose, who are now in the “catch-up” position.

As clinical as the Bankies were in their finishing on the night, we were undoubtedly aided and abetted by quite possibly the worst defensive performance by any opposition side this season. Aldin El-Zubaidi was particularly culpable, scoring one of Clydebank’s goals and having a hand in two others. The former Troon man had always seemed a capable defender in our past encounters, but it was no surprise when he was hooked at half-time.

The defensive calamities beset Bo’ness almost from the first whistle, when an ambitious attempt to head the ball back to the keeper was intercepted by Keir Samson, and only a great stop by Wallace prevented the Bankies from taking an early lead.

However, Bo’ness were clearly keen to make up for their defeat at Holm Park earlier in the season, pressing and harrying as though their lives depended on it. There seems to be a pattern of teams throwing the kitchen sink at the Bankies in the opening stages of matches in an unsustainable fashion. It hasn’t worked for anyone yet, but at least Bo’ness made some decent openings in the first ten minutes.

Twice they saw the whites of Owen Stott’s eyes, but on both occasions they fired the ball over the crossbar — and Clydebank responded in the best way possible by taking the lead.

Another new tool in the Bankies’ locker is the long throw from Neil McLaughlin, which came in particularly useful tonight on one of the narrower pitches in the division. The forward launched the ball into the box and, in the ensuing scramble, Matt Niven was able to prod it back to Dean Cairns at the edge of the area. Last season’s player of the year struck the ball with real venom, and it careered into the top corner with the help of a little deflection, giving Wallace no chance.

Just five minutes later, Aldin El-Zubaidi forgot which side he was playing for when another long throw was met by his head. With no one around him, he horrendously mistimed his clearance and somehow managed to find the bottom corner of his own goal as his teammates looked on in horror.

The two quick-fire goals knocked some of the frantic energy out of the Bo’ness players, but they almost pulled one back with a more considered move when Johnston found Shaun Brown on the left flank. The tricky winger came inside, and his shot across the face of goal was only inches wide.

The Bankies looked threatening with every attack, and Matt Niven should have scored when he got on the end of a Nicky Low cross, only for the ball to glance off the outside of the post. The inevitable third was only delayed a matter of minutes — and El-Zubaidi was at the heart of it again.

A long ball that should have been child’s play for any self-respecting defender was inexplicably missed by the ex-Troon man, and his teammates once more watched on in utter dismay as the ball ran through for Keir Samson, who sidestepped the keeper before prodding home into the empty net.

It was to be a hat-trick of misery for El-Zubaidi as he failed to cut out another long ball just before the break. Despite being strong favourite to retain possession, he tamely conceded the ball to Neil McLaughlin. This was all about the Bankies forward, who continued his hot scoring streak with a perfect shot into the net — his fifth consecutive match on the scoresheet.

It wasn’t to get much better in the second half for the home side as the Bankies went further ahead after 53 minutes. This was a much more pleasing goal on the eye as a number of passes were completed before Keir Samson dragged the ball across the penalty box for Nicky Low to finish.

At this stage the Bankies looked capable of running up a cricket score. Aaron Black was inches away with a first-time drive, Samson hit the bar with a header, and Thomas Collins was denied by a point-blank save on the rebound. However, as time ebbed away, Bo’ness began to make a better fist of it.

With twenty minutes remaining, they pulled one back as Nicky Low was caught in possession inside his own half. The ball was quickly switched to the right, and Mitchell drilled past Stott to some sarcastic cheers from the home fans.

Bo’ness were not done, however, and five minutes later they notched another. David Syme seemed to misjudge a high ball dropping out of the night sky, and three passes later the ball was in the net again as Tom Grant thundered a shot past the helpless Owen Stott.

Minutes later the Bankies defence was breached again as Mitchell bore down on Stott from an angle, but the keeper made himself big and produced a fine stop with his foot. Gordon Moffat, clearly concerned with this turn of events, brought on Owen Carey to help shore up the threat from Bo’ness and close the game out.

We’ll call it a forgivable lapse, but given the standards set by Moffat, he will be keen not to see a repeat of the last twenty minutes. Putting that aside, he must be thrilled with the rest of the performance. We have now come through stage two of our three-game away schedule with maximum points, and we can look forward to visiting Bonnyrigg with great confidence. Now that we’ve wrestled the top spot away from Linlithgow Rose, we don’t want to give it back anytime soon.

It was very difficult to choose a man of the match with so many successes on the pitch. The Bankies Archive Man of the Match goes to Dean Cairns, who was dominant in all aspects of his game, whether pushing the side forward or contributing defensively. Nicky Low was a close second and has been in top form lately, but his mistake in the lead-up to the Bo’ness goal robbed him of the accolade tonight. Keir Samson was fantastic as ever, and Matt Niven was once again a standout performer in defence.

Match report written by Stuart McBay