Clydebank beaten by East Stirlingshire in first pre-season match

The Bankies were well on top in the first half as they bossed possession but couldn’t find that final touch to reward themselves with a goal and were made to pay after the break when Tony Coutts struck for the visitors.

It turned out to be the only goal of the afternoon but Moff is convinced that good things will come to those who wait.

Speaking to the Post, he said: “I felt we were a wee bit hard done by in losing the game because I thought we played well, particularly in the first half and we had a lot of the ball and had them penned in for long spells but we just didn’t have the cutting edge at the top end of the pitch but that’ll come.

“In the second half it was a lot more even and end to end and we got undone with a wee bit of loss of concentration.

“Overall I was fairly pleased with some of the play but going forward we’ll look to carry more of a threat but we’re still bedding things in at training and patterns of play so it’ll come.

“It just takes time for the current players to understand the new guy's strengths and vice versa so I’m not concerned about it.”

All four of the club's summer signings – Kieran Hughes, James Grant, Thomas Collins and Callum Graham – featured on Saturday, as did Ben McLernan and Calum McEwan who have been promoted from the club's development side.

Fans were out to see how Moff's squad is shaping up ahead of the new campaign (Image: Ronnie Murphy)

This week, the fans smashed the 300 season tickets sold barrier (Image: Ronnie Murphy)

Chris Black also got minutes under his belt as a trialist as he made his return after stepping back from football in February whilst Lee Gallacher hobbled off with an injury.

There were five players missing, however, and Moff believes competition for places will be tough when they all return.

He added: “I was concerned when Lee went down holding his knee but it looks like it’s an impact injury rather than a twist or anything so hopefully it’s a week or two and it will settle down.

“Chris had the situation with his personal life and business life and things he had to go and achieve, but at the moment he is saying he can come back for a period but we’ll need to see how long that is and whether or not putting a deal in front of him is going to be suitable.

“We are monitoring that and are just keeping it quite relaxed at the moment and he said he wouldn’t go anywhere else if this couldn’t work.

“At the minute we are just giving him some pre-season minutes and doing the sessions and we’ll play it by ear and ear and see how it goes.

“Our captain and vice-captain, Nicky Little and Jamie Darroch, were both missing with being on holiday, Creag Little is on his honeymoon, Danny MacKenzie can’t play until the start of August after having a wee procedure and Conor Higgins had a wee niggle so we just sat him out.

“When you look at it, we still had a strong squad with those five missing so it will be very competitive when we get them all back.”

Bankies preparations for the new season continue this weekend when they travel to Victoria Park to take on Newmains United. Kick-off on Saturday is at 3.00pm.