With skipper Austin McCann forced to sit out the Irvine Meadow and Cumnock matches with an ongoing back problem, McGhie turned to the former Kilbirnie Ladeside man to lead the side despite him only joining Bankies in October.

Barclay was delighted with the honour, he said: “To be honest I went about my business, I didn’t really think about it and he gave me the armband. It is a great honour, I’ve only been here 12 games and two of those I’ve captained and we’ve got good points from those matches.

“Hopefully those games can prove to be a turning point as a collective but getting the chance to be captain was brilliant. Obviously we have a young team and at 30 I’m probably one of the more experienced guys in the team at the moment.” As the Bankies prepare to face relegation rivals Shotts Bon Accord on Saturday, Barclay is all too aware that the games Clydebank still have to play against the sides closest to them in the table will be crucial in deciding whether they remain in the Premier Division.

He said: “Four points out of the last six is good but I suppose you want the points from the teams who are round about where we are. Agaisnt the likes of Talbot and Hurlford, they will be cracking points to get but I would rather take six points from games with Shotts and Kilbirnie because they are down the bottom with us.

“Looking at it there is going to be us, Shotts, Cumnock and Kilbirnie fighting to stay in the league, we have two games against Kilbirnie which are going to be crucial. We would probably take third bottom just now and go into a play-off. If you look at the games we have we probably have five very winnable games with a couple of home ties, if we win those five I think that’ll be us guarenteed safety.”