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Central District League Division 1

I'll start this report with a stat for soccer doc of the Bankies forum: After an amazing 862 minutes of football Clydebank finally score from open play again!  And the goal came from Clydebank's top goalscorer Clinton Maxwell, after a superb cross from super-sub Des Kelly.  A result which has lifted Clydebank into 2nd in the league table, with a tantalising trip to Fullarton Park next for Budgie's boys knowing victory could go a long way in the promotion race.

After some strong early pressure from Clydebank they had their first chance when Mitchell flighted a ball across the field which found David Fisher nicely, who crossed it in only for Tolland to shoot wide.  A minute later disaster struck when a ball over the top caught out Mitchell, who tried to divert the ball but only helped Greenock Junior's Andy Monaghan run through on goal.  He fired past McNab high into the net to make it Clydebank 0-1 Greenock Juniors, after 4 minutes.

Clydebank bounced back from this early setback by having their best chance of the first half.  Clever play from Maxwell on the left saw his cross reach Tolland at the back post who saw his lofted header sail over Meechan's head in goal, but cleared off the line by a defender.  This was followed up by a jinky run by Gary Esdale on 7 minutes but his shot lacked power and was saved fairly easily.

A minute after Esdale tried scoring, he turned provider as he knocked down a Harkins free-kick into the path of Tolland but he fired over the crossbar.  Next to try his luck for Clydebank was Hailstones, who latched on to a Brady cross but his volley also sailed over Meechan's crossbar.  Waddell then was the latest Bankie to see who could hit it over the crossbar the most amount of times when he volleyed over.  Clydebank's resiliance to bounce back was met with no goal, and the familiar story of reverting back to the old-style unsucessful type of play was adopted.  A long ball from defence trying to find a small forward, nobody there to get onto it, and the opposition come to attack only for the Clydebank defence to deal with that, but knock it high and far up the field again.  This would be the general theme for the rest of the first half.

Ryan Waddell swung in a corner on 25 minutes but Maxwell headed wide.  A minute later, Esdale once again got himself onto a Harkins free-kick to set up Maxwell but again his effort went by the post.  Fisher showed some nice play on the left but his cross was well cut-out by Meechan after half an hour of play.  Greenock Juniors, feeling a bit confident to have actually absorbed this pressure and still be winning, were cheeky enough to push for more.  Andy Monaghan had both chances, the first on 35 minutes when he was allowed to run with the ball towards goal only for his shot to go over.  A minute later, he hit over the crossbar again this time from a volley.  The last chance of the half fell to Esdale who connected with a Brady long throw, but it didn't trouble Meechan as it trailed wide.  The ref surprisingly gave no injury time, despite the fact that Meechan ate up half of the first half's play with placing a ball in the spot for ages, slowly walking back, scratching his arse, fixing his glove and then after wondering if he would actually be forced to make a save before finally taking a goal kick.  Still, the score at half time was:

CLYDEBANK 0-1 GREENOCK JUNIORS

At half time, I chin-wagged with time-keeper Rab (he's been invaluable this season) and we both saw the same thing - even though the team had been re-shuffled a bit, they had slowly resorted to the old style of play which never has any results unless one of the opposition players screw up big time.  It was one of the worst half times I had ever known, as I had a bitter feeling that unless something big happened, the performance would not change one bit.

Greenock Juniors started the second half determined not to let Clydebank have the first say, and Angus Gault fired just over McNab's crossbar, a stinging drive from the short-tempered player.  Hailstones had a shot saved from Meechan and Greenock Juniors went straight up the other end and Alan McIntyre blasted over.  With 5 minutes of the half gone, Waddell had a shot sail over the crossbar.  Time for a change!

Des Kelly came on for David Fisher after 57 minutes and boy, did Des make an impact!  Maxwell had a shot easily saved straight after the change but the whole mood of the game had shifted.  Joey Muir and his backing vocalists had arrived (better late than never) and belted out a few tunes that got the crowd going as well, and this seemed to fire up the players.  A ball to Tolland was chested into the path of Kelly, who chested it down himself, turned his man at the byline and from the left swung in a cross which found Maxwell who placed his header into the corner of the net to make it Clydebank 1-1 Greenock Juniors, after 62 minutes.

Yes, a goal from open play!  Esdale tried his luck 5 minutes later but his shot was dealt with well from Meechan.  John Paul Dow fired wide for Greenock a minute afterwards, and this was followed by a substitution seeing Chris McAllister go off for John Robertson (Greenock) and Ryan Scobie come on for Michael Tolland (Clydebank).  Time was fast running out, and the last 15 or so minutes is when the game picked up.

Waddell is trying to take a free kick with only 16 minutes to go.  He's about to take it when the Greenock gaffer calls attention to the referee that they need to make a change.  So Angus Gault crawls towards his dug-out at a pace which snails would laugh at, and when he finally got there...where was his replacement?  He was still trying to get ready to come on, not even kitted out and just coming back from running the touchline.  I must say that I thought it was a bit unfair that Graeme Black, the replacement, was booked for this as the management were to fault IMO.  Still, it ate up about 3 whole minutes.

Time for more controvesy, a deep cross into the box after 77 minutes was missed by all, but the referee gave a penalty kick to Clydebank.  The ball was either palmed away by a Greenock player, or there was a big push.  Either way, after some heated exchanges the Greenock player Alan McIntyre was shown the straight red card.  Some talk of perhaps he lashed out at his own team-mate and the ref sent him off for violent conduct!  Brian Harkins stepped up to take the penalty kick and sent Meechan the wrong way to make it Clydebank 2-1 Greenock Juniors, after 77 minutes.

Dempsey came on for Waddell a minute afterwards and things did slow down just a bit.  Greenock were now actually showing how fast they could move, and Thomas Docherty fired a shot well wide of goal in a desperate effort to get his team back into things.  Des Kelly responded for the Bankies by charging down a clearance and getting the better of the break of the ball, and ran through on goal only for his shot to be tipped over by Meechan.  Maxwell had a volley go wide on 84 minutes, and seconds felt like minutes at this crucial stage of the game.

Pat McIlvogue got himself booked for dissent with only 2 minutes left, and then Greenock Juniors made their final change as the clock ticked over 90 minutes.  Scott Foreman came off for Mark Bowie, a change which in usual Greenock tradition took ages to actually happen.  Esdale had his header saved a minute into injury time and after 3 agonising extra minutes the referee blew his whistle.  Clydebank fans and players alike were ecstatic with the victory.  It's weird that any victory in this league now feels like you've just beaten Real Madrid.  But the players done the fans proud and came back wonderfully to make the final score on a sunny evening at Glenhead Park:

CLYDEBANK 2-1 GREENOCK JUNIORS

Some interesting changes were made with Derek Readie and Ryan Scobie making way for Tolland and Maxwell.  At the very start of the match, it worked well.  But losing an early goal can knock a team's stride and most of the first half after the opening goal was dire.

Des Kelly's introduction was certainly a major impact.  Who knew he'd make a great winger?  I thought he was more of a central player myself but he impressed me down that left side.  Fisher did as well, but with the defence not really using the midfield for most of the time he was on he couldn't have much of an impact.  Tolland was good as well, latching on to chances and being very unlucky not to score with a looping header.  Esdale had many chances but didn't really do a great job of converting them.  BUT I did notice how he's very good at setting up his team-mates by knocking the ball down for them.  He's a big guy, a high ball into him, knock it down to a free Bankie to fire it over...I mean, fire it in the back of the net?  Who knows.

Big thumbs up, we beat the bottom team in the league.  Time to seperate the men from the boys though, as next week's gonna get ugly.  Away to Vale of Clyde, it's their last league match so they'll want to end it on a high note, and possibly a brawl if Danny Drew's really angry.  A team that uses their strength and bully-tactics, but they are top of the league for a reason.  No doubt Paul Cummings will be going "This will be the biggest game of the season" again.  I consider every single match the biggest.  This is not any bigger than the win over Greenock Juniors.  Or the win over anyone else in this league.  We've beaten them last time, and what's to stop the team beating them again?  Bankies far and wide, you don't want to miss this so get yer arse over to Fullarton Park on 7th May at 3pm.  Let's just shake Vale of Clyde to the core both on the park and off it - leave the players to do the job on the pitch while the fans can make the kind of noise that'd give any opposition team the squits.

Let's show them who the best team in the league are.  Well done to Budgie and the boys for this game!

STATISTICS

Please note that the content of this website is from a fan of Clydebank FC, and does not represent the club in any way or form.  This is all personal opinion, and is totally unofficial unless I say so otherwise.