Clydebank football boss bemoans sickness bug amid poor weekend

The Bankies took part in the Violet Marshall Memorial Cup on Saturday and Sunday alongside Renfrew, Kilsyth Athletic and Ashfield at New Western Park.

The Holm Park side were beaten 4-2 by Ashfield on Saturday before losing 2-0 against hosts Renfrew on Sunday to finish as the only team throughout the two days without a victory.

Moff had hoped to further spread the minutes out amongst his squad as he prepares for the new season getting underway next week but was left without a number of players.

He had 10 missing, including two goalkeepers and three full-backs, so was forced to heavily rely on the small numbers he had available.

And he has revealed that had the tournament not been for such a great cause, he would have considered not taking part.

Speaking to the Post, he said: “The football was disappointing but in terms of what I had planned in terms of the tournament itself just didn’t play out because of how many we had not there.

“It was very frustrating but I didn’t want to let the organisers down.

“We had a sickness bug through the squad from Wednesday and Thursday and that continued into the weekend. A couple managed to play through it, not at 100% which probably showed in performances, and a few just couldn’t play at all.

“We were hoping to get most of the group 90 minutes over the weekend but it turned out a couple played two full games which wasn’t what I was after.

“I don’t want to put that down as everything because over the two games, we never performed well enough.

“We had holidays and a few wee niggles on top of all of that so it wasn’t the best but even with the group we should have done better so there’s definitely a wee bit of food for thought. We’ve got a big two weeks ahead of us.

“You can’t just hide away that there is work to do but at the same time, the point of these games is to see where guys at in terms of fitness and sharpness and look at team selections and partnerships.

The Holm Park side now look forward to their final pre-season game against Jeanfield Swifts (Image: David Brockett)

“It’s trying to find a balance, you use these games for what they are there for but at the same time you don’t want to get into bad habits.”

Moff admits there was one positive to take out of the weekend and accepts why some performances weren’t quite up to scratch.

He added: “Over the two games we created quite a lot – there were 12 or 13 in the Renfrew game and a couple of stone wall penalties that never went our way – so it was a positive that we were creating chances, but defensively we really need to tighten up.

“I don’t want to be critical with the defenders we had available, Creag Little was just off his honeymoon on the Friday and then played two games so even the ones that were there weren’t quite up to speed.”

Clydebank round off their pre-season schedule of friendlies this weekend when they face Jeanfield Swifts at Holm Park, kick-off on Saturday is at 2.00pm, before the competitive season gets underway next weekend against Benburb.