Clydebank 3
Dumbarton 1
League (Division 1)

Match Report

Clydebank's graceful and comparatively effortless disposal of their county rivals belied the stark statistics of a shocking home record.

The put behind them the memories of five defeats on the Kilbowie turf to complete and almost embarrassingly easy hat-trick of wins over the Boghead side.

But true to form they sentenced themselves to a fairly long stretch of hard labour before condemning the Sons to death by defensive errors.

Two goals in a devastating second-half spell ended any hopes Dumbarton had of exacting revenge for two earlier hammerings, and both left the defence with egg on their faces.

In fact Billy Lamont's back four and midfield did little to help keeper Murray Bowman enjoy his First Division debut.

Mind you, it wasn't long before the former Larkhall Thistle number one was taking a bow to pick Bobby Williamson's second minute header out of the net.

Campbell McKeown still deputising for Gerry Ronald nodded back across goal from a high cross and Williamson was on the spot to place a header well out of Bowman's reach.

Chances are there were a few choice words between the visiting defenders and, if so, then there were undoubtedly questions asked after Martin McGowan's equaliser for Dumbarton.

Several times the Bankies defence could have cleared from Stevenson's cross, but eventually the ball ran free to McGowan who had time to wheel and shoot low past Gallacher.

McGowan was to play a slightly less glorious role later in the match, but before the break his team mate John Donnelly was to become the villain of the piece.

His wild challenge on Budgie McGhie was nothing more or less than pure temper at losing the ball to the centre half. Budgie was left writhing on the touchline after the tackle. Incredibly referee McLeish let Donnelly off with a yellow card.

The pre-match excitement had centred around how many scouts would be down at Kilbowie to watch the midfielder. Let's hope it wasn't too many.

Just minutes after the break Tommy Coyle, pushed by Billy Lamont to add weight to the Dumbarton front line wasted a great chance when he flashed a free header over the bar from a McGowan cross.

Dumbarton were to pay dearly for his inaccuracy and that of his team mates.

Ten minutes later, Clydebank broke on the right. Tommy Coyne crossed and when Donald McNeill failed to cut the ball out, Jimmy Given got there before Montgomerie to thrash a shot high into the net.

Within four minutes, Dumbarton were buried and this time Coyne changed from goalmaker to goalscorer.

Martin McGowan was woefully short with a passback which caught his defence napping and left Bowman stranded. And with the deftest of flicks Coyne knocked the ball over the keeper's head.

From then on, Clydebank had enough of a cushion to allow them to relax a bit, and they coped easily with what little Dumbarton had left.

The Bankies could have indeed added to their lead before the end but Bowman showed that his debut was not going to be all gloom by pulling off a couple of excellent saves, including a brilliant one headed stop from a Williamson header.

It was pleasing to see Williamson and Coyne not only getting on the scoresheet but making something like the contribution they had earlier in the season.

Most important of a all though, Clydebank beat a team at Kilbowie with as little fuss as possible, the way home teams going for promotion are meant to.

There are five more home games to go this season and to give themselves a chance Bankies must win all of them.