CLYDEBANK manager Gordon Moffat admits his side were somewhat fortunate to find themselves through into the second round of the West of Scotland Cup after a penalty shootout victory over Ardrossan Winton Rovers on Saturday.
The Holm Park side came from behind to earn a 1-1 draw at Valefield Park with Keir Samson’s strike cancelling out Mark Curragh’s opener.
The teams couldn’t be separated after regulation time and it was young goalkeeper Connor Keaney who was the hero with three saves in the shootout before Dean Cairns scored the decisive penalty.
The result keeps the Bankies' unbeaten run to start the season in tact, with that streak now stretching to 12 games in all competitions.
Despite not being at their best, Moff praised the reaction from his side after they fell behind and was pleased to see his shot-stopper impress when it mattered.
Speaking to the Post, he said: “Performance wise it wasn’t great; we started the game well and we should have scored in the opening minute but overall it wasn’t there.
“We lost composure at the start of the second-half and were trying to force things when Ardrossan were dropping into their own half.
“We got ourselves in a tricky situation by losing a terrible goal so we made it difficult for ourselves but it speaks volumes for the boys we managed to dig ourselves out and get through on penalties. If we end up going the distance in the competition then nobody will really care but I need to look at the performance so we’ll address that.
“In the last few games we’ve had challenges when you’re playing teams from different levels so we’ll address that but I’m not going to be too harsh on the boys because we’ve won every game this season so there’s obviously a lot of positives in there as well but there are a few things we need to clean up on.
“We were lucky to get penalties on one sense but we also could have won it – it wasn’t so much end-to-end because Ardrossan were sitting in and causing us problems on the break whilst we had the ball and looked to get through.
“Connor was fantastic with three saves so I was delighted for him. It was a big responsibility on his shoulders but he done great.”
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Clydebank play their fourth cup game in succession this weekend as they welcome East of Scotland Second Division outfit Dalkeith Thistle to Holm Park for a third-round South Challenge Cup tie.
Moff hopes to welcome some bodies back to his squad for the clash and hopes to maintain his record against sides from further down the pyramid.
He explained: “I’ve never lost to lower league opposition so I don’t intend to start doing that now.
“It will be a similar challenge with us going up against a team from lower down the divisions but we had them watched and we’ll need to be a lot better than we were on Saturday.
“Hopefully we will get one or two back because the names we’ve got out at the moment will hinder any squad.”
Kick-off on Saturday is at 2:00pm.
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