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SCOTT CAMERON ONCE AGAIN GIVES CLYDEBANK THOSE WINTER BLUES

Clydebank 1-1 Yoker

Twas the week before Christmas, and in the spirit of Christmas the points were shared in what was a fiercely contested match.  Both sides will feel they should've walked away with all three points, but I personally think it was the right result at the end of the day.

This is how both sides lined up:

The match kicked off in front of a crowd of 521, but the first half was ugly to watch.  After 8 minutes, Brian Harkins was caught very late, and took a sore one.  The referee didn't penalise the Yoker player for the foul, and Harkins was lucky to be able to continue after getting treatment at the side of the pitch.

A few minutes later, Danny Simpson recklessly gave away a free kick, and received a booking for it.  It was a rightful booking, but so was the challenge on Harkins.  Difference is that the Yoker player got away with it.  Anyway, nothing much happened in the first half, mainly fouls and hard challenges being inflicted on Clydebank by the Yoker team.  On 21 minutes, Joe Allison had a shot blocked, and Crawford followed it up by blasting wide of goal.

With half an hour of the game played, a moment of magic from Hailstones opened the scoring.  Crawford missed connecting with his header, but Hailstones got onto the ball, made some space for himself and right-footed it into the far corner, a wonderful finish from Mark and it was now Clydebank 1-0 Yoker, after 30 minutes.

A minute after the goal, Danny Simpson was taken off for Derek Readie, and Michael Tolland moved into Danny's right-back position as Readie takes Tolland's previous role up front.

As half time drew near, Yoker actually played a bit of football and had a shot go wide of goal.  And just before the whistle, Joe Allison had a cross that hit off the crossbar, and behind for a goal kick.  The only good moment of the first half was Hailstones' goal, and at half time the score was:

CLYDEBANK 1-0 YOKER

The half-time show was the most entertaining moment of the day so far, with some young lad showing off his tricks to the crowd, who applauded trick after trick.  Check THIAF for a couple of photos of his skills caught on camera.

Anyway, the second half was a lot better than the first, for entertainment purposes.  Yoker actually played some football, which livened things up.  Simeon flicked on a header to Readie after 49 minutes, but Readie's shot was over the bar.  Good link-up play from the two forwards, though.

Tony Bennet came a bit close for Yoker on 52 minutes, but only troubled the stewards with his long-range effort.  But a minute later, Yoker had their best chance yet as a corner from Bennett found a Yoker player, but his header was superbly saved from Halpin.  A rebound was saved as well, and then a scramble in the penalty box saw a shot being fired in only to be stopped on the line, and Yoker had thought they had scored the equaliser.  But the linesman's flag stayed down, and Clydebank just survived the onslaught.

Readie came mighty close after 61 minutes but his shot was blocked for a corner.  Hailstones swung it in, but Crawford's header was cleared from Yoker's on-form defence.  A couple of minutes later, Fallen was booked for a trip on a Yoker player.  That's 8 bookings this season, it's turning into a norm for him to be booked each game!

The game was drawing to a close, with only 15 minutes remaining.  Waddell swung in a corner, but Crawford's header went harmlessly wide of goal.  A few minutes later, Joseph Preston was booked for Yoker.  And then, on 79 minutes, came a moment which made everything silent, Joe Allison's 25-yard strike.  It was ever-so-close, but it crashed off the post, and there was still only one goal in it.

Clydebank made another change on 83 minutes when David Simeon was taken off, and replaced by Paul McGlinchey.  A couple of minutes later, Hailstones had a shot just go over the crossbar.  It was looking like Clydebank were just going to get the better of their fierce local rivals, but disaster struck with a mere 3 minutes to go.  Scott Cameron, who scored in the last match between both sides, had his shot take a big deflection which had Halpin helpless as it made its way into the top corner.  The celebrations earned him a booking, with all sorts of hand gestures to the crowd.  And it WASN'T to the Yoker fans, that's for sure!

It was probably a deserved equaliser, as both sides were fairly even throughout the game.  Des Kelly came on for Joe Allison after this, and had a shot on 91 minutes just go over the crossbar.  There were no other chances, Yoker were ecstatic and there's no change at the top half of the table.  At Glenhead Park, on a cold Winter's day, the final score was:

CLYDEBANK 1-1 YOKER

In-depth analysis

Well, it's fair to say that this was the biggest game of the season so far.  First half was not good at all, barring Hailstones' moment of magic with his goal.  The second half livened things up, and Yoker gained confidence as Clydebank kept making individual errors.  Michael Tolland and David Simeon especially stood out as those who impressed, and Simeon was the official man of the match.  Good to see Derek Readie and Sean Brady back through injury, positive to see them play well back from injury.

I'm fairly positive that the Clydebank management will be very happy for the 2-week break, for players to rest up and to let those suffering from injury get some time to recover.  I think the management themselves deserve the break as well - they must've been working their socks off trying to figure out how to cope with players being injured and who were able to fill their places.  And yes, we're out of the Scottish Cup, but we made it to round 3, further than last year, and we've got a few games in hand with a chance to go top if we win them.

2004 has been an awesome year, winning 3-2 at home to Yoker way back on January, winning away to Carluke (my first Bankies game back for years), the cup games against Kilsyth and Shotts as well, holding our own against higher-league sides.  And of course, that infamous title-winning match against Coltness.  And this season, too, dominating against Super-league Johnstone Burgh and eliminating them AGAIN, winning our first league game of the season against Vale of Leven and the cup victory against Cambuslang Rangers.  So many great moments in 2004, one of the most memorable being Paul Cummings, dressed in a monkey costume and having one too many bacardis. climbing a tree next to the ground in Forth, and then running into the Clydebank goalmouth while play had stopped and the ref's back was turned.  Who needs to be among 50,000 strangers at Ibrox when you can be with hundreds of friends at Glenhead Park?

CLYDEBANK TIL I DIE!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

C'mon the Bankies!