Greenock Juniors Football Club

Greenock returned to league action at Ravenscraig for the first time since Dunipace visited in mid February . On a great night for football Greenock's largest home crowd of the season turned out for what was expected to be a fiery encounter.Clydebank were the opponents on this occasion and after Saturday's victory were still chasing the League title while Greenock are still scrapping for points to get clear of the relegation area. This match started off with a high tempo but despite that niether team managed to really threaten either goalkeeper. Clydebank had a few efforts on goal with both Maxwell and Crawford having efforts that sailed over Meechans cross bar. Greenock had a few efforts of their own with Robertson and Foreman having strikes from distance but McNab in the Clydebank goal was never under any real pressure. Clydebank's Hailstones had probably the best chance of the half when he found space at the edge of the area but his well struck shot was well charged down by Pat Mcilvogue, so the scores remained blank at half time.

Within 5 minutes of the re-start Greenock lost a very soft goal when they failed to clear their lines after a long throw in. The ball bobbled around at the back post and Clydebanks Jon Crawford reaceted first to send his effort into Meechans bottom right hand corner through a ruck of defenders to a large roar from the very large and vocal travelling support. This rattled Greenock and they almost fell further behind shortly afterwards when a goalbound bankies effort was helped on it's way by Clinton Maxwell who was in an offside position much to the relief of the Greenock side. The game then settled into a battle with neither team really creating anything of note. Clydebank were getting plenty of balls into the box but Kenny Meechan took the pressure of his defenders by commanding his area. Greenock were trying to put pressure on the visitors to get back into the game but were not created anything clear cut. The introduction of strikers Graham Black and Mark Bowie seemed to give Greenock more impetus in attack and the Clydebank defence were now starting to get stretched. The equaliser arrived on 86 minutes and what a goal it was. A Clydebank defender headed the ball out in the middle of the park where it was met first time by a ferocious left foot volley from Thomas Docherty. McNab in the Clydebank goal had no chance as Docherty's strike rocketed into the roof of the net to the delight of the Greenock contingent. This spurred on Greenock and moments later they got what could turn out to be a precious winner with some of the best football of the match. John Robertson sprayed the ball wide to Andy Monaghan who found some space out on the right wing. He cut inside evading his marker before getting to the byeline. His inch perfect cut back found Mark Bowie 5 yards out and he made no mistake as he re-directed the cross into the gaping goal. The final minutes saw Clydebank throw everything forward in search of an equaliser but the Greenock rearguard soaked up the pressure to claim a vital 3 points in the battle against relegation