Arbroath v Clyde

Recap

Clyde kept up the pressure on the leaders with a more emphatic victory than the 2-1 scoreline suggests. Clyde were quick out the traps and a Kernaghan header struck the crossbar from a Kane free kick after only 5 minutes. The defence then contrived to clear the loose ball before a Clyde player could get near it.

However the opening goal was only delayed as after 12 minutes another Kane set-piece, this time a corner, was headed back across goal by John Potter and Willie Falconer reacted quickest to nod home from 8 yards out. Jack Ross was next to try his luck and a tremendous run and shot from fully 28 yards out came back off the underside of the bar but again no Clyde player got near to the rebound. With Kane pulling the stings in the midfield Clyde were totally dominant but Arbroath were trying to break up Clyde drives forward with a physical style of play and it was a major surprise that none of the "Lichties" were booked by ref Somers. And after 23 minutes Ross broke down the right and squared to McConalogue and the on loan striker’s first time shot was spilled by Craig Hinchcliffe in the Arbroath goal, but was cleared by the defence again. Kane was next to try his luck but his long range shot went just over the bar. And after 35 minutes the best move of the half saw a nice exchange of passes between Kane, Ross and then Cosgrove who saw his shot easily held by Hinchcliffe.

So a one goal lead at half time, with the wind at their back, was always going to be a narrow advantage but Clyde set about putting that right early on and when Hinchcliffe lost the ball 20 yards out McConalogue looked set to increase the lead. However he delayed over his shot and by the time he squared the ball to Hagan the chance was lost. However the former Livvy striker was the man to increase the lead after 65 minutes. Halliwell fed Potter and his pass to Millen gave him time and space to feed Hagan and he shot high past Hinchcliffe into the net. This at long last woke up the home side and they suddenly started to threaten Halliwell’s goal. And after 75 minutes they pulled a goal back when Kane lost possession in midfield and Kernaghan was forced to foul Ferroz. Andy Dow stepped up to fire home the free kick into the top corner. Five minutes later in almost a carbon copy he fired high and wide as Arbroath pressed for the equaliser. But it was never going to come and Clyde came away the deserved victors.

The three points saw the gap to Inverness reduced to only 2 points. Victory over Ayr next week will see Clyde move back to 3rd as Inverness and St. Johnstone play each other. The title is still a realistic possibility, however with SPL rules meaning we are still almost 2000 seats short of the criteria to go up questions have to be asked over the prospects of another stand being erected. If the stand does not go up then all the good work of the players and management team may well prove to be in vain.

STAR RATINGS (*****)

Halliwell (***) One impressive save in particular but maybe suspect for their goal?
Potter (****) Set up the first goal and had another solid game.
Kernaghan (***) Won crucial headers as always but a bit shaky with some tackles.
Mensing (**) Needless fouls and poor distribution – not up to his usual high standard.
Ross (****) Usual shift on the right, with one spectacular effort on goal.
Kane (**) Good on ball but looked very exposed otherwise.
Millen (****) Always buzzing about the midfield and set up second goal superbly.
Cosgrove (***) Not always in the game but had several promising moments.
Hagen (***) A shaky start but came on well and scored a cracker.
Falconer (***) Quietly went about his business and grabbed a strikers goal.
McConalogue (****) Encouraging work rate and looked busy, also promising.