Arthurlie v Clydebank

Arthurlie 2-0 Clydebank
SJFA West Region Superleague Premier Division
Dunterlie Park
Wednesday 18th April 2018

The annual fixture pile up in the junior game is something that frustrates the life out of teams and many supporters. But the silver lining that I take from it is that I can pop into a game on my way home from work once or twice a week. With Barrhead only a few miles away from my work, so not much of a detour, Dunterlie Park was my destination for the first midweek madness trip of the season

The Venue

Dunterlie Park is well situated within Barrhead, right across the road from the train station. The ground opened in 1919, and is the third home of the club to bear the same name. It’s a proper old school junior ground with concrete stepped terracing on two sides, one of which houses a moderately sized covered enclosure capable of sheltering a couple of hundred souls from the elements. The opposite side from the enclosure has a small hard standing area that the diehard home support seem to use.

The ground has a current notional capacity of 3,000, which doesn’t look too far off the mark for me. Somehow 10,500 crammed in for a Scottish Junior Cup tie with relative neighbours Cambuslang Rangers in March 1939. Given that I’m told the footprint of the ground was the exact same back in those days, it’s a bit mind boggling. Health and safety has come a long way from the interwar years.

The Teams

Arthurlie can trace their history back to 1874 and the original iteration of the club were members of the Scottish Football League for two spells between 1901-1915 and 1923-1929. They won the SFL Division Three title in the 1923-24 season and were regular competitors in the early rounds of the Scottish Cup. The club folded in 1929 due to financial difficulties and were immediately reformed as Arthurlie Amateurs. After only a year in the amateur setup, the club once again became Arthulie FC and joined the junior setup. The club won the Scottish Junior Cup for the first time in 1937, just a few years into their tenure in the junior game. They won the showpiece competition for a second time in 1998, beating their fierce rivals Pollok 4-0 at Motherwell’s Fir Park. Arthurlie were also Central District League champions on four occasions before the West Region was formed.

It’s been a tough season so far for Arthurlie, despite a good start with three wins from four games in the Sectional League Cup. They sit bottom of the Superleague Premier Division, with just one win and seven points from their thirteen games so far, with their lone win coming on the second day of the league season. Their Scottish Cup run did take them to the fifth round when they were eventually defeated by Carnoustie Panmure, but they have exited the West of Scotland and Central League Cups at the first hurdle. Billy Ogilvie is the current man in charge.

Clydebank’s history is long, storied and tumultuous, and is going to take way longer than my usual spiel about the teams in action. Given that I’m intending to see them again in a couple of weeks, today I’m going to focus on the current iteration of the club, which has been active since 2003. With the fans of Clydebank left without a team to follow after their club’s collapse, the supporters group UCS secured the rights to the club’s name, badge and history from Airdrie United and began the process of setting up a new club. After a year out of the game, Clydebank returned as a junior club, in the fourth tier Central District League Division Two for the 2003-04 season. Groundsharing with Drumchapel Amateurs at Glenhead Park, the club won the league at the first attempt, often playing in front of four figure crowds, unprecedented for the division. A second promotion to Superleague Division One followed in 2006-07, with promotion to the Premier League coming at the end of the 2010-11 season. The club were relegated in 2015, and after two seasons in the First Division, gained promotion to the top level again last year.

Clydebank reached the Scottish Junior Cup Final in 2008-09, losing 2-1 to Auchinleck Talbot in front of over 8,000 fans at Rugby Park, Kilmarnock. Since returning to the junior game, the Bankies have won the Central League Cup twice, and the Sectional League Cup another twice. This season has been a tricky one for the club, hovering at the bottom of the league table. A recent run of good form however, has lifted them to eighth, although they still do only have 11 points from 14 games and are not yet safe from relegation playoffs. The club lost at the first hurdle in the second round of the Scottish Junior Cup to Kennoway Star Hearts, won the Sectional League Cup and are still active in both the West of Scotland and Central League Cups. The club’s members recently voted to rejoin senior football, and a deferred application to the East of Scotland League for the 2019-20 season has been made to allow ground improvements to be carried out at Holm Park. Kieran McAnespie is the current manager, having taken over from the long serving Budgie McGhie in January 2017. McAnespie retired from playing just a few weeks ago.

The Game

Clydebank almost had the perfect start to the game just seconds after kick off. A poor clearance from the Lie defence allowed Steven Higgins to get a shot away, but Grant Hay got down well to save. Just a few minutes later the Bankies came close again from a corner, but Jamie Darroch’s header flew just past the post. The home side took advantage of their first real foray up the field with eight minutes gone. A free kick was given around 25 yards out on the left hand side. Despite the protestations of the Bankie’s support, Lie captain Kieran McAleenan curled a superb strike past the despairing Waters in the Clydebank goal to give his side the lead.

It was to be the high point in a largely drab first half, as despite the glorious sunshine overhead, the Dunterlie Park pitch was cutting up badly, and was making things difficult for both sides. Clydebank continued to attempt to play a passing game, but time after time found the ball bobbling away from the intended target. The Lie had the best of the chances, but despite James Marks working hard up front and showing good strength and movement, there was little final product to show. Marks himself had a header just wide from a corner midway through the half, and should have done much better with a poor shot from inside the box with halftime approaching. Marks pouncing on a poor clearance should have cut the ball back to James MacLennan instead of firing well wide. The Bankies had the last chance of the half, but MacLean fired a shot from just outside of the box wide after a promising run.

Not a whole lot of quality on show in the first half, and it was confounding why Clydebank didn’t try to change up their gameplan when it became clear that the surface was less than perfect.

The second half brought a lot more action as Arthurlie began to adapt to the underfoot conditions. An attack straight from the kick off gave the Bankies defence a fright, but Waters smothered the ball. The visitors had a great chance with fifty minutes gone when the ball broke to Steven Higgins, but the normally reliable striker hit a soft shot straight at Hay while bearing down one-on-one. Five minutes later it was Lie on the attack again, but Marks’ cutback wasn’t picked up by any of his team mates. Arthurlie continued to look more dangerous, restricting Clydebank to mainly long range efforts, including a Ryan Deas free kick which sailed over the bar.

With 71 minutes played, Marks picked up a long ball, but could only hit his shot right at Waters. But only a matter of seconds later, Marks had doubled the home side’s lead. The Bankies attempts at playing out of defence backfired as Marks pounced and drilled a powerful low strike across Waters from 30 yards out. Marks almost doubled his own tally about 90 seconds later when Waters’ kick out hit him on the back, but the spin on the ball didn’t allow the striker to get the ball under control quick enough to find the target.

Clydebank tried in vain to get themselves back into the game, but the damage had been done and the visitors never really looked like scoring. It wasn’t the greatest game I’ve ever seen, and Clydebank’s performance was as bad as I’ve seen from them. Arthurlie were more than worthy of only their second league win of the season, and with Hurlford not playing this midweek, it’s 3 points that lifts them off the bottom of the table.

The Pies

Heading to the game straight after work meant that I was using the pie stall for my dinner. I decided to plump for two steak pies, which were packed to bursting with really tender meat. Good job.

Admission: £6
Programme: £1.50
Pie: £1.50 (Scotch) £1.80 (steak)
Bovril: £1
Attendance: 170 (approx headcount)