Clydebank 5
Bonnyrigg Rose 1
League (Lowland League)

Match Report

It was do or die for Clydebank this afternoon as league leaders Bonnyrigg Rose came to town, carried by the weight of a 250-strong away support. Knowing a win would almost certainly knock the Bankies out of title contention, their fans were in good voice and high spirits.

But spirit is the thing that has been reignited in the Bankies players over the course of the last few weeks, and they were back to their devastating best as the New Dundas Park side were taken apart in a quite scintillating first-half performance. Having led Bonnyrigg by nine points at one stage, to find ourselves eight points in arrears meant nothing less than victory would do to keep our championship hopes alive.

To go nap and put five past the table toppers was as good as anything we have seen this season. Every player wanted the ball as confidence coursed through the team, and when we didn’t have it they swarmed around the Bonnyrigg players like angry wasps.

Rightly, the plaudits will go to Neil McLaughlin for his wonderful hat-trick. Surely the player of the year-in-waiting, the finishing on display was quite sublime. However, Gordon Moffat and his team deserve huge credit for the manner in which they have turned the fortunes around.

After suffering three defeats in a row we looked done, and we had the look of a team who were down on themselves. Sometimes that is the hardest rut to get out of, but a couple of things have changed.

The signing of Dom Docherty has been transformational in midfield. The fans of his previous club, Dumbarton, weren’t particularly fond of him but he has anchored the centre of midfield in his short time at the club. It has enabled Nicky Low, who was magnificent in the first half today, and Dean Cairns to be less restrained in their play and affect the game in a positive way. Cairns was last season’s player of the year, but he has looked like he has been carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders recently. However, this was amongst his best games for the Bankies today. Hunting the ball out of possession, opening up the play and creating chances for others — it was the Cairns that won all those awards a year ago.

The other thing that I personally really enjoy is utilising a twin strike force. It probably ages me a bit, and maybe it is coming back into fashion, but two up front would always be my default setting. As the cliché goes, attack is the best form of defence, and when you have two of the best forwards in the league then use them to their best effect. We are, and should be, a front-foot side, and it should always be about making the opposition worry about what we are going to do, rather than the other way around.

Even when Bonnyrigg took the lead after eight minutes it was against the run of play. They have some fast and smart forwards, none more so than Cammie Ross who is heading towards 30 goals for the season. They took advantage of a slack David Syme header and Ross split the Bankies defence wide open with a great diagonal run before rolling the ball past Stott.

Admittedly, you couldn’t help but fear the worst, particularly as Bonnyrigg really only had to avoid defeat to ensure a good result, and it was difficult to tell how fragile the Bankies’ recent revival really was.

However, all doubt was put aside by Neil McLaughlin’s six-minute hat-trick, one of the fastest in the club’s history. His first goal was simply beautiful – from Nicky Low’s forward pass to Keir Samson’s back-heel flick, the ball came to McLaughlin. It was an audacious chip to lob the goalkeeper from inside the penalty area, but he pulled it off so well that Connelly couldn’t even move for it.

His second was a little more routine as a David Syme header from a Nicky Low corner bounced off the crossbar, but McLaughlin was clever enough to head the ball high into the net. Just two minutes later he made it a trio of great goals when Dean Cairns picked him out with a pin-point pass. Using his strength, he held off the defender and took one touch before flicking it past the keeper.

Bonnyrigg’s confidence looked shattered and their fans were silent as the Bankies went looking for more, and it wasn’t long before number four arrived. Awareness is a trait you can’t really teach a player, and Nicky Low has it in spades. He took a quick free-kick while some of the players were still looking at their boots. His chipped cross found an alert Keir Samson who took the ball on the run and slotted it past Connelly.

The key to the second half was to not allow Bonnyrigg a fast start and let them entertain any notions of a comeback. I fully expected the Bankies to make the game more scrappy and manage the contest, and this we did superbly well. To such an extent that Clydebank added a fifth goal after 56 minutes. It came from a long Neil McLaughlin throw-in, and the Bonnyrigg manager won’t be happy at how easily Dom Docherty was able to control the ball. He did have to make a bit of an acrobatic swing to lash it into the net, but it was not a great goal to lose.

The heart had gone out of some of the Bonnyrigg players and Clydebank no longer pushed with the same intensity, though still retaining a threat right to the end. If there was one positive for Bonnyrigg it was the return of Laurie Devine. He was quite impressive when he came on and did have the ball in the net, only for it to be flagged offside.

Despite it being a fantastic result, and opening up the title race not just for Clydebank but for Tranent and Linlithgow as well, it should be remembered that it was just one result – albeit another positive step in the right direction. It is still out of our hands as Bonnyrigg retain a five-point lead, which can be cut to two if we win our game in hand.

Just as we pass one acid test, we find ourselves up against another right in front of us. We now have four consecutive away games in the coming weeks and, to be perfectly honest, we can’t really afford to drop many, if any, points.

It is East Stirlingshire next week for the fourth time this season. They will be buoyed by their first home league win today. After that it is a trip to Edinburgh to face Hearts B. Another two ex-league clubs in the shape of Albion Rovers and Cowdenbeath round off this run on the road.

Four or five clubs have a realistic chance of winning the Lowland League in one of its most exciting climaxes in years. The Bankies have a new resilience and are hopefully coming into form at the right time. Let’s see if we can turn that into the run of results we need.

Match report written by Stuart McBay