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BANKIES SHINE ON A CLOUDY DAY AT SOUTHCROFT PARK

Rutherglen Glencairn 1-3 Clydebank

Clydebank delivered a superb game of football to the attending fans at Southcroft Park to go top of the table, but the shocking news of Sinclair Soutar's clot in his leg, which required an emergency operation, has left Bankies fans in shock and suddenly, the amazing performance produced by every Clydebank player is put to one side.

By far the biggest attendance at Southcroft Park all season, not to mention the best hosts to the travelling Bankies fans so far this season, the supporter's bus arrived early and me and Harkie had a kick-about, me in goal and doing a superb job.  Then wee Adam and Edd got involved, and slowed things down.  Luckily, the McVicar brothers saved the kick-about with some good crossing.  Anyway, here's how both sides at Southcroft Park lined up:

(One guy for Rutherglen who received the Glen's first booking has been missed due to not being able to see who it was.  White shirt numbers with black and white tops don't go together!  Means you have to have super-vision to see who it is on the other side of the park.  6 bookings, but I only know 5 of them.  Cheers biggalsuperbankie for informing me of 2 bookings I missed.  From now on, I'm going to bed early on a Friday night so I don't miss anything at Bankies games!)

So that's the line-up, here's a diagram to show how the Bankies players took to the field:

It was quite a frantic start to the match, and with only 2 minutes gone Rutherglen took the lead.  A corner kick was swung in dangerously into the penalty area, and thanks to poor marking and uncertainty from Halpin it was nodded in with ease from Tam McLaughlin, to make it Rutherglen Glencairn 1-0 Clydebank, after 2 minutes.

After that early let-down, Clydebank went on the attack.  Des Kelly picked up the ball from around the half-way line with 5 minutes gone, and went on a mazy run past 2 players and eventually got a shot in.  Unfortunately for Des, his shot was right at Keith McLaren.

It was inevitable that Clydebank would grab an equaliser, and it came from another corner.  Mark Hailstones hit in a good ball to the back post, and Crawford rose well to nod it back towards the goalmouth.  It went through a number of Rutherglen defenders, and hesitation from McLaren in goal meant Clinton Maxwell flicked in a volley into the corner of the net, to make Rutherglen Glencairn 1-1 Clydebank, after 11 minutes.

A couple of minutes later, Ryan Waddell unleashed a ferocious shot which was well tipped wide by McLaren.  A minute after this chance, Waddell crossed from the right and found Brady at the back post, but he volleyed over.  And Mark Hailstones scuffed a shot well over the bar 5 minutes after this attack.

It was all Clydebank, Rutherglen holding on to the draw for as long as possible.  But nobody could have thought that Clydebank would take the lead through Sean Brady.  He was on the right hand side of the pitch to take a throw-in, and while that was being cleared, it ricocheted off someone and went into the air.  Brady, still on the right, watched it drop down, and as Budgie screamed "NOOO!" Sean connected beautifully with his left foot and the ball dipped powerfully into McLaren's bottom left-hand corner.  Not a bad way to score your first goal for the club!  It was now Rutherglen Glencairn 1-2 Clydebank, after 21 minutes.

Clydebank were still well chuffed with Brady's wonderstrike when they went to sleep defending a corner 3 minutes later, a carbon copy of Rutherglen's goal with a corner being swung in, and this time it was headed wide of goal from 6 yards out.  A real let-off for the Bankies defence.  A minute after this scare, Hailstones tried to get in on the scoring, but he was denied by the on-form McLaren.  Then it was Waddell's turn to test McLaren, controlled well with his chest and volleyed his shot just wide of goal.

Rutherglen tried in vain to get an equaliser, and they had a shot on 33 minutes saved from Halpin.  Not a lot happened towards the end of the half, but one thing did stand out: Just as the clock was ticking to 45 minutes, Halpin and a Rutherglen attacker went up for a ball, and Halpin got to the ball and parried it away.  The referee, though, saw fit to award Halpin with a free kick.  I don't care if he IS the Bankies goalkeeper, referees give goalkeepers WAY too much protection.  If it happened to us, we'd be in an uproar about it!  Rutherglen had a very good chance of scoring, as Halpin was out of his goal and parried it only to a Glens player.  All else that happened was that Scott Smith received a booking for dissent, complaining about the ref's decision to award a goal kick and not a corner when Brady tackled him.  The half time score was:

RUTHERGLEN GLENCAIRN 1-2 CLYDEBANK

Clydebank started the second half strongly, Maxwell looking for another goal but being denied well by a good save from McLaren.  The resulting corner from Hailstones was cleared only as far as Kelly, who shot over the bar.  He wasn't at all happy with his effort, but to me it was a good attempt and unlucky not to test the keeper.

With 53 minutes gone, Paul Macininch was booked for a foul and Ryan Waddell stepped up to take the free kick on the left hand side of goal.  A delightful ball into the box saw Mick Fallen grab his first goal in a Bankies shirt, a powerful header into McLaren's top right-hand corner made it Rutherglen Glencairn 1-3 Clydebank, after 53 minutes.

Clydebank kept their attacking attitude, and Des Kelly had another attempt on goal.  Unfortunately, this was his worst effort of the day, hitting his shot well wide of goal.  A minute later, Maxwell should've scored when Hailstones swung a low, fast cross into the front post.  For once, it wasn't McLaren denying the Bankies, but this time the crossbar.  As Maxwell was cursing his luck, Rutherglen made a substitution, Gerry McShane going off for Paul Finnigan.

An hour had been played, and Clydebank were still looking the better side.  Clinton Maxwell went on a good run, but his shot was blocked.  It broke to Dempsey, but his shot was deflected and McLaren gathered the ball.  Not long after this, Mick Fallen for Clydebank and Fraser Church for Rutherglen were booked.

There was now only 20 minutes remaining, and Rutherglen fans were relieved to see their popular striker come on.  Martin Gallagher made way for Mark MacKay.  Rutherglen fans were confused as to WHY he was left on the bench.  My guess is that either he was still a wee bit injured, only coming back last week against Rutherglen but not feeling 100%...or he simply didn't impress in training mid-week.  Either way, he had 20 minutes to shine.

Mark Hailstones tried in vain to score a well-deserved goal, but his low shot on 72 minutes was blocked by McLaren's legs, and Rutherglen's best player, in my opinion, was McLaren for keeping a lot of Bankies attacks out of his net.

With less than 15 minutes to go, Clinton Maxwell came off and Derek Readie was introduced to the game.  But for this last spell of the match, Rutherglen looked more threatening.  78 minutes of play saw Halpin having to react quickly to save well, and he gathered the ball at the second attempt.  After this attack, Rutherglen's final change was made, Paul Quinn coming off for Gavin Boyd.

There was now a mere 10 minutes remaining, and it was evidently clear that Clydebank had dropped a gear or two.  Mark MacKay was having some sort of impact in Rutherglen's attacking force, as they were now creating a bit of trouble for Halpin.  They were putting the Bankies defence under a good bit of pressure, but there was no getting past the Clydebank defence.  Gavin Boyd, who was not long on the park, was booked for a very bad challenge on Dempsey.

Now there was only 5 minutes to go, and Ryan Waddell made way for John McIntyre.  A couple of minutes later Halpin made a good save, and the resulting corner bobbled about a bit and then an offside was given.  With a single minute remaining, Hailstones made way for David Simeon.

And then a moment nobody will want to remember.  A nasty collision between team-mates John McIntyre and Sinclair Soutar resulted in both the Clydebank physio and Rutherglen's physio running on to help out each player.  A kind gesture from Rutherglen that I sure appreciated.  McIntyre had his face buried into the ground, and all I could think about was "Isn't the ground kinda toxic, or summit?".  Anyway, Soutar had a lot of spray applied to his leg, and both he and McIntyre continued to play until full time.  Nothing else really happened, and the full time score at Southcroft Park was:

RUTHERGLEN GLENCAIRN 1-3 CLYDEBANK

In-depth Analysis

Clydebank started the match the worst way possible, conceding a goal which could, and should, have easily been prevented.  After that, though, Clydebank were on fine form, a lot of players like Kelly, Hailstones and Waddell were forcing McLaren into making good stops, and McLaren himself could do nothing at all to stop any of Clydebank's goals.

I think the decision from Ross Anderson to have MacKay on the bench was an important key in the victory.  Be it injury, or not 100% or whatever, him not being in the starting 11 made life that little bit easier on our defence.

As for the Rutherglen team, they looked a good side.  They attempted playing a football game, which is more than I can say for a lot of other teams we've played this season.  A number of attacks they made lacked that final touch, but some good passing play down the right wing almost resulted in a goal, if not for some good defending.

Graeme Dempsey had to contend with Gallagher a lot of the time, and he done a bang-up job of that.  Sure, it means he had to be more defensive than usual.  But thankfully, his attacking prowess wasn't missed this weekend.

Anyways, here's a diagram to show the runs made by Clydebank players:

MY MAN OF THE MATCH: MICK FALLEN

C'mon the Bankies!