Allum strike seals edgy cup victory

Published 4 Nov 2009 14:00

Clydebank1 Haddington 0

A PAUL Allum strike midway through the second half was enough to get the Bankies' Scottish Cup campaign up and running.

The junior game's premier tournament holds fond memories for Budgie McGhie's side, most notably last May's final appearance at Rugby Park.

But a lacklustre first-half performance had the Clydebank boss fuming with his under-achieving players at the half-time break.

He sent them back out with their ears ringing and made it clear they had to put right what had gone wrong.

Thankfully, they got the message and although only one goal separated the sides, the Bankies totally dominated the rest of the match.

The second round tie had been switched to Vale of Leven's Millburn Park after both Clydebank and Yoker were drawn at home.

In the first 15 minutes it looked as though a comfortable afternoon would unfold for McGhie's men, at what has often been a happy hunting ground for the Super League outfit.

Mark Hailstones came close with a shot that flew past Andrew Scobie's left-hand post before the Haddington

keeper did well to block an Andy

Selkirk effort during the early exchanges.

Bankies lost full-back Shaun Molloy with a groin strain and that meant the introduction of Allum, McGhie being forced to re-jig his team after just 16 minutes.

Haddington came close to opening the scoring on 28 minutes when Mark Robertson's fine, angled drive beat Robert Tiropoulos - but came back off the far post.

At the other end, Steven Dymock came closest for Bankies with a similar effort to Robertson's but the impressive Scobie produced an excellent fingertip stop to keep the scoresheet blank.

Clydebank stepped it up after the break and, without being at their best, had Haddington pinned back for long periods.

Dymock was again denied by Scobie, who blocked the attacker's first-time shot when a goal looked certain.

Despite the blank scoresheet, Bankies maintained their discipline and kept asking questions of the visitors' defence.

The one they had no answer to was posed by Allum on 68 minutes.

The midfielder latched onto a loose ball on the edge of the box before rifling a left-foot shot into the net via a desperate attempted block.

Nicky Cairney almost doubled the lead 10 minutes later when he rose to meet a fine John Harvey cross, but the midfielder headed over.

A second goal would have been the least Clydebank deserved, but on Scottish Cup day the only thing that matters is making it through to the next round.

It might not have been an entirely convincing result, but the Bankies are into the next round and boss Budgie McGhie is not too bothered with how they got there.

He said: "We were pleased with the result, but not really the performance.

"We had to work a lot harder than we would have liked. I said beforehand that Haddington were a good side, but I think in the end we got the result we deserved.

"We started well, but I thought we lost our way a little bit.

"We're starting to get down to the bear bones in the squad now and obviously we would like to add to it, but nothing has happened just yet."

The Bankies are back to league business on Saturday with a tricky trip to Annbank.

CLYDEBANK: Tiropoulos, Vezza, Soutar, Campbell, Cairney, Harvey, Molloy (Allum 19), Dallas, Hailstones (Blair 76), Selkirk, Dymock. Subs: Gonet.

SUPPORTERS' BUS: Leaves Hardgate Roundabout 11.30pm, Atlantis 11.40pm, Holm Park 11.45pm. Non-members call Fred on 07890410606 to book.

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This article appeared in Clydebank Post 04 Nov 09

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