St. Mirren v Clyde

Recap

Night and day or chalk and cheese. Call it what you will, but the contrast between each half of this game and the performances of Clyde and St Mirren had to be seen to be believed. Clyde survived a shocking first half but emerged to completely dominate Saints in the second.

The first surprise was that Keogh didn’t even make the bench and Millen was straight back into the team. Clyde started quite well and forced a few corners but Roy in the Saints goal pulled off a couple a good saves. The home side began to dominate the proceedings and Clyde couldn’t keep the ball. The pace of the Saints forward line was causing problems again and Clyde were getting caught out. Fortunately Halliwell was on top form and pulled off 3 great saves to deny St Mirren. The goal was coming though and it came from a corner. The ball was flighted right under the bar and the tallest man on the park, Robb, got the flick into the net. Clyde were relieved to reach the break only one goal adrift.

Despite the poor showing no changes were made at the break. Clyde began with much more purpose and pushed Saints back. Nish got his first sniff of goal but his strike from 16 yards was well parried by Roy. Kernaghan put in a header but it was well saved by Roy again. Saints nearly doubled their advantage when Gillies let fly but Halliwell pulled off another amazing save. Kane was pulled off and Convery joined a 3-man forward line. The move paid immediate dividends. Hinds twisted and turned down the left and cut the ball back to the edge of the box. Millen met the ball on the volley and the ball flew into the roof of the net. Clyde sensed that given St Mirren’s defensive record they were there for the taking. Clyde applied the pressure and another goal came. Hinds again was the provider. His low cross allowed Nish to get in front of his marker and flick the ball home from close range. Everybody was wanting in on the act and Potter strode forward, played a one-two with Hinds and his shot came off the post. St Mirren just seemed to fold and Ross picked up the ball just inside the Saints half. He ran unopposed into the box and fired home a cracking shot from 16 yards. Near the end Clyde had a clear penalty denied by Convery falling out of the box instead of in it. It didn’t matter though as from the free kick on the edge of the box the ball broke to Nish and he slammed home his second from 10 yards out.

Saints could have buried Clyde in the first half but they didn’t. From looking very one-paced Clyde suddenly overran St Mirren and looked on fire. Was there something in the tea? Nish came good at last and grabbed a couple of goals. That is just as well as he does very little else. Repeat after me, ‘We must learn to trust our Manager.’

REACTION

Alan Kernaghan – "At half-time Billy gave us a rollicking which we thoroughly deserved because we were poor. He told us a few home truths and thankfully we reacted to it well as we went from the worst we have played to the best all season and in the end could have won by perhaps seven goals. Andy started the scoring off with a great finish and I was pleased for Colin to get his goals. We could even had a penalty but as we won 4-1 we won’t moan too much about that. Colin is here till January and we need to speak to Dunfermline nearer the time. He is a penalty box player and he comes alive when the ball goes in there. Unfortunately things have not been falling for him, but today the balls did and I thought he worked really hard to get his rewards in the second half. Hinds worked really hard as did everyone and we got a great reaction from the players after half-time. The only player to take any credit first half was Bryn who kept us in the match with some really good saves and second half the rest of us managed to pitch in. When Stevie came on we went 3 up front and got the goal straight away. Then they changed and pushed 3 up so Hagen more or less played the rest of the game at left back. He did a job for us there – everybody plays a part in the game sometime and we are a team and that is really how it has to be. I should have scored myself when I had a clear header but I just did not direct it well enough. But we had numerous chances to score more; even John Potter hit the post. We were a bit worried about John as he got a dunt on his nose before half-time and then came out and threw up on the pitch. I was telling Billy to keep an eye on him and I kept asking if he was all right. But he produced a great display second half. So we may give him a little dunt before the game next week! At least we know it won’t ruin his looks… Teams above us are still winning but we cannot legislate for what they are doing, We just have to keep on winning ourselves. There is a gap between the top four and the rest of the table now, but we want to get even higher so we have to keep winning."

Colin Nish – "I thought I was unlucky last week not to score. I got a bit of luck today when I managed to get in front post to score and I think it might give me a bit of confidence now. Leigh Hinds is very good at getting down the wing and whipping over balls like he did. But Bryn did well first half. I felt we did well early in the game but lost it after the first 15 minutes. Billy Reid did a lot of the talking at half time as the Manager is playing just now. He gave us all some pelters. That is four goals now but when I was at Dunfermline I was scoring every game. The ball has not been landing for me since I came here, but today it came. I feel I could score a few goals here if I get the break of the ball. I originally thought I was here for the season but I think it is actually six months. My contract is up with Dunfermline at the end of the season so I will need to see what Jimmy Caldwerwood says. I would prefer to play in the SPL but I love the training here. It is great knowing that you are playing every week and that is what you want to be doing. You don’t want to be doing things like extra running when you want to be playing on the Saturday. I am only 21 and have been told by Calderwood that I need to get experience. I started the final two games of last season in the SPL and thought I did quite well. There is more space in the SPL and at times games in the First Division are a lot more of a battle."

Bryn Halliwell – "The guys have kept me in enough games in the past so I suppose it was my turn today. I honestly thought it was going to be one of those days as we were hopeless first half. I made a save and then they go and score from the corner. Then second half we came out and battled really hard. We always thought when we got one goal we could go on and get more. St. Mirren have young boys at the back and when you have youngsters if you apply enough pressure eventually they will crumble and luckily for us that is what happened. Billy gave the talk at half-time but was not as bad as I thought it would be. We were poor and making silly mistakes. We went in feeling a bit down but fortunately Cameron did not score before just half-time. I am enjoying training and playing every week. I know if I keep on doing what I am doing I can keep improving. I have been working a lot on my kicking and handling and have been a bit more professional. I am enjoying training and treat every session like it is my last. We are on a great run just now and confidence is high. We have come back twice now from being 1 down and that is something Clyde really did not do before. The team spirit is excellent and we keep everyone going together."

Andy Millen – "It was a great comeback for the Club. In the first half we must give a lot of plaudits to Bryn as he was outstanding. St Mirren really took the game by the scruff of the neck and had us pinned back for long periods and if it was not for Bryn the game could have been over at half-time. We went in at half-time and got a deserved roasting from Billy Reid. I know it is a cliche, but it was really a game of two halves. Leigh Hinds did really well, but the whole team really played their part including Stevie when he came on. We have shown what Clyde are all about in the second half. We have very talented players here but without the work ethic that is no good to anyone. The ability is unquestionable but to do anything in this league you need to work hard and need a desire and a hunger. I was fortunate today with Pat being out that I managed to get back in after being out for the last two games. But, there was no doubt we missed Pat today as he is a very important member of our squad. For my goal, I remember the ball breaking to me from the left and I was lucky that I caught it on the sweet spot. I knew as soon as it left my foot that it was away. These are the ones that can end up in the stand one week and the next look spectacular. None of the goals we scored today were tap-ins and Roy kept them from losing more goals. We are delighted to come here and take three points as from middle to front Saints are up there with the best teams in the league. There is little difference between the teams in this league. All we can do is go out and plug away each week and see where that takes us at the end of the season. We are fortunate that we are on a run but at the start of the season we were not getting the breaks to go on a run. I am sure the likes of St. Mirren are capable of going on a wee run of good results.

John Potter – "That was a brilliant result. We have gone from our worst of the season to the best in one game. We were all poor in the first half but in the second half we seemed to win a lot more balls. I hit the post myself and had a header I missed too – I haven’t scored yet this season but I can feel it is coming! Hopefully we can keep the run going next week as I know they are a side we have struggled to beat. I took an elbow in the face early on and got a sore nose. It also made me sick on the pitch, but I was okay and enjoyed the second half. It’s too early to tell how the season will go but we are on a great run that we want to keep going. The last two games have been against teams around us and we have beaten them, but the next two games are really important. It is nice to be close to the top as you certainly feel the pressure at the bottom."