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REVENGE IS SWEET FOR THE VALE AS BANKIES SUFFER A DERBY DEFEAT

Vale of Leven 3-2 Clydebank

The scene was set for an exciting game of football, in the scenic spot of Millburn Park.  With the Leven flowing behind the ground, and the green hills on the other side with the sun shining overhead.  The pitch was in perfect condition and the Bankies were just happy to be playing competitively again after postponements had added a few extra weeks to their Winter break.

This is how both sides lined up:

The game started off badly for the Bankies, as the Vale took the lead almost instantly.  Hugh Ward hit a low cross in from the left and Brian Smith hammered it high into the back of the net to make it Vale of Leven 1-0 Clydebank, after 2 minutes.

Vale of Leven were forced into making an early substitution when Alex Grace seemed to pick up an injury, so he came off for Chris Currie after 11 minutes.  Then nothing not even worth noting down happened for a while.  The ball was stuck in midfield, really, which made for a REALLY boring first half.

John McIntyre swung in a free kick on 35 minutes, and it went through everyone.  Dennison was quick to react to stop the ball going all the way into the net.  Then Joe Allison picked up a booking.  McIntyre's free kicks weren't working that effectively, due to a combination of good Vale defending, and inaccuracy.  And the Vale had a great chance to go two up when a long ball caught out Mick Fallen, and Kevin Montague was through one-on-one with Paul Halpin.  Fallen tried to foul Montague but the Vale attacker got away from Fallen, and fired his shot towards goal.  It just went over the crossbar, and it was a glorious chance missed for the Vale.

Apart from a John McIntyre free kick going high and wide, nothing else happened and both teams went into the changing rooms at half time, after a boring first half, with the scoreline:

Vale of Leven 1-0 Clydebank

At half time, I decided to go behind the goal and help out the Clydebank subs with their wayward shots.  They certainly kept me busy, but a big cheer went up when one shot rolled into a muddy puddle in front of me, leaving drops of mud on my trousers.  Well, whatever pleases a drunken rabble, I suppose...

John McIntyre came off at half time for Graeme Dempsey.  If Clydebank were hoping for a better start in this half, then they thought very wrong indeed.  Within a minute of the restart, Joe Allison fired a shot over the crossbar.  Then Kevin Montague had his shot well blocked on 49 minutes.  But then a moment of magic two minutes later double Vale's lead, and double Clydebank's misery.  Hugh Ward turned wonderfully inside the Clydebank box, and had made space to shoot past Halpin.  Ward had assisted in the first goal, and now he was on the scoresheet to make Clydebank's task of getting anything from the game even harder.  The score was now Vale of Leven 2-0 Clydebank, after 51 minutes.

Derek Readie had a glorious chance to get Clydebank back in contention minutes later, but his shot inside a crowded penalty box only managed to hit the side netting.  But then a moment of controversy occured when Michael Tolland's corner went over the goal-line.  Peter Dennison, in goal for the Vale and having a decent match so far, had completely misjudged the inswinging corner and it went over his head.  Initially, everyone, both fans and players on both sides, thought the goal was given, the ball was over the line, that there is no doubt about.  But the referee gave a free kick on a foul on Dennison.  I saw nobody push Dennison, as far as I seen it he just made a disastrous error and thanks to the linesman and/or referee, got away with it.  It was a crowded box, so maybe something happened which obstructed my view, but to me it was a goal wrongly chalked off.  After this incident, Alex Lacy was booked for the Vale.

Clydebank made their second substitution after 57 minutes, Paul McGlinchey coming on for Joe Allison.  Just after an hour had gone, and Clydebank were playing some better football.  But an Alan Brown free kick found an unmarked Jim Meechan in the box, who powerfully headed home the Vale's third goal and a defeat now seemed imminent for the Bankies.  The Clydebank defence fell completely asleep and the score was now Vale of Leven 3-0 Clydebank, after 61 minutes.

The Vale were forced into making another substitution, replacing a sub they had made earier.  Chris Currie was replaced by ex-Bankie Toby King.  The Vale were happy to hold on to the ball, which is fine if there's 5 minutes or so remanining.  But there was still 15 minutes to go, and I was not looking forward to the most boring 15 minutes of my life, with the Vale trying to keep it in a corner for ages.  Clydebank made their final substitution with 15 minutes to go, Clinton Maxwell coming on for Michael Tolland.  And with time ticking away ever so quickly, Hailstones pick up a daft booking, and now there was ten minutes left, 3-0 down.  Surely Clydebank were down and out, right?

Well, Derek Readie didn't give up.  On 83 minutes, after the Vale made their final substitution of Graeme McKenzie coming off for Dominic Ruane, Sean Brady done one of his super-throws and it found Derek Readie, who nodded the ball into the corner of the goal, to give some hope to the Bankies fans.  The score was now Vale of Leven 3-1 Clydebank, after 83 minutes.

Brian Smith, scorer of the opening goal of the game, got himself booked soon afterwards.  Mark Hailstones hit the resulting free-kick, which went over the crossbar much to the delight of the Tennants-wielding Vale fans in the terracing.  So with five minutes to go, surely it was too late now.

Nope, it wasn't too late.  Vale's tactics of holding on to their lead for deal life seemed to be backfiring on them, and a high ball into the box found Mick Fallen, who saw his header beat Dennison in the same bottom corner which Derek Readie had scored before.  There was only one goal in it, and it was now Vale of Leven 3-2 Clydebank, after 87 minutes.

It was a frantic finale, and the fans were urging the Bankies to keep up this amazing late show.  As the clock just entered injury time, some nice passing play from Clydebank saw Derek Readie have a great chance to score.  Just as he was about to fire in his shot, veteran defender Jim Meechan performed a last-gasp tackle to keep his side in the lead.  He's been at the Vale before I was even born, but he's still got it!

You'd think that would be the last chance, but two minutes into injury time Graeme Dempsey had a wonderful opportunity to level the scores.  But sadly, he saw his header go wide of goal.  It was an exciting end to the game, but the referee blew his whistle and the final score at Millburn Park was:

VALE OF LEVEN 3-2 CLYDEBANK

In-depth Analysis

Before I say anything, I'm going to look at the game, and not the scenes at full time.  I don't know how it started, and I had nothing to do with it.  This is a match report, so I'll look at what happened during the match.  Although I will say one thing - during witnessing the exchanges and verbal abuse, I couldn't help but feel sorry for Stevie Latimer, who as well as being a die-hard Bankie also has a soft spot for the Vale.  So having that happen around him must've been hard to have taken in.  Anyway, back to the game!

Not playing competitively for well over a month was certainly a factor today for Clydebank, but don't think for a second that we lost only because of that factor.  The Vale showed some wonderful passing and great finishing, and held firm for most of the game in defence.  I've seen more of them this season than I have of Clydebank, and I am impressed so far with what I have seen.  I hope they make the most out of their home form, because their away form is dire!  Alan Brown appealed his red card decision and it was successful, and his influence was clear on Saturday when he set up the decisive third goal.

Derek Readie keeps popping up in my head, with that chance that never was, in a sense.  The ball came across to him, and if he had taken it with his right foot it may have went in.  Instead, he delayed this attempt to wait for it to fall onto his left foot.  By this time, a Vale defender was able to block and clear.  There weren't TOO many chances in the game, so you have to take them all.  And Michael Tolland's corner also keeps flashing in my mind, it was a big turning point in the game.  If it had been allowed, then it would've been 2-1 and it would have been game on, for sure!

People were surpised from Budgie's tactics.  Like why did Graeme Dempsey not automatically start in the right-back position, and Brady on the left?  A guess could be Dempsey is still feeling the effects of the operation a little bit, and might still be struggling.  Clinton Maxwell and Paul McGlinchey made a great difference, it might have done us good if one of them had started.  As for Mark Hailstones, he didn't have his best game but he played all over the pitch, quite literally!  No wonder he was frustrated near the end of the game, once he's barely settled into one position he has to play in another position!

Hopefully, the Bankies will function better as a team in our next match.  The time out has been way too long, and credit to the Vale for playing good themselves, and taking advantage of their opportunities.  All of a sudden, after the other results this weekend, there is only seven points between the top EIGHT teams in the division.  One win could put a team into promotion contention, a defeat could make you drop all the way down just outside the relegation zone.  This could be an incredibly close league, so let's take it one game at a time and do what we can do, to help the team do their best to get the points needed to keep in contention for promotion.

Oh, and Bankies fans can vote for their Clydebank unofficial man of the match on the main page of the website, it's a link in the box on the left.

C'mon the Bankies!