Alloa Athletic v Clyde

Recap

Clyde produced a disappointing performance as Alloa earned only their second league win since the last meeting of the sides following a good display in front of their own supporters.

The Bully Wee had an unchanged starting line-up from the game against Stirling Albion but chose to recall Robert Halliday for Steven Odenewu on the bench. Despite this, the home side dominated from the first whistle and their first effort on goal was a header from Scott Walker that went past the post. John Grant then fired in a shot that Callum Reidford watched fly past his post. Mark Casey was then lucky not to concede a penalty despite blatantly handling the ball in the box but justice was done a minute later as Alloa took the lead. Ex-Clyde man Mark Brown mis-controlled a pass which saw him elude a couple of Clyde players and from his low cross, another ex-Bully Wee star, Brian Carrigan, knocked home the opener.

The Wasps were rampant and Carrigan was unlucky to see a 20-yard free-kick thump against the cross bar. Reidford was then called upon to make a terrific save from Stuart Noble after Casey had been caught on the wrong side of the striker. Brown Ferguson then struck the post with a header despite appearing to foul Willie McLachlan in the process and Andy Scott had a goal disallowed for handball. Finally, the overworked Reidford did superbly to tip Grant’s low effort past the post.

Clyde’s solitary attack of the half saw a neat one-two with Bob Davidson send Willie Sawyers through on goal only for the linesman to incorrectly flag for offside. Sawyers had also mis-controlled a superb through ball by Connor Stevenson which threatened to send him through on goal but it was no surprise that changes were made at the interval, with Halliday replacing Connor Cassidy. Although this appeared to be a straight swap, Gary Muir moved to the right side, Paul Stewart moved into the middle and the formation changed to a 3-5-2.

The changes certainly saw Clyde tighten things up in midfield but chances at both ends in this half were at a premium. The introduction of Jay Lang and Paul McLeod made little difference as the Bully Wee’s chances almost all came from set pieces that the home team defended well. In fact, McLeod’s weak header past the post from Halliday’s cross was the single clear-cut opportunity of the match.

Alloa had chances on the break to seal the win and finally got their deserved second goal in the last couple of minutes. Ferguson’s burst forward ended with a shot that Reidford saved well but from the resulting corner, Ferguson’s header rattled the bar and Noble nodded in the rebound.

Clyde were disappointing throughout and perhaps the only consolation to be taken is that Alloa produced, by some distance, the best performance of all opposition so far this season.