Ayr United v Clyde

Recap

It’s a sure sign of changed days when the Clyde support left Somerset Park unhappy with only a point. Clyde had thirty minutes to make their man advantage pay but in the end were hanging on for a point. That’s ten points out of twelve and we’re still unhappy – figure that?

The only change in the line-up was that Fraser came in for the suspended Millen. The announcer had a strangely familiar voice too. What was Craig Winning doing working at Somerset Park? At times you were expecting him to switch on the tannoy and berate the officials as he normally does at Broadwood.

The blustery conditions did not make for a flowing game and so it proved. Clyde in particular were guilty of shipping the ball on first-time. Keogh had the first chance after 10 minutes but dragged his shot just wide. He wasn’t to be deterred and opened the scoring after 18 minutes. Hinds made good progress down the right and played the ball into the box. Keogh, with his back to goal, easily turned a defender and fired the ball through Nelson in the Ayr goal. Clyde didn’t hold onto the lead for long though. Ayr scored with their first real attack only 2 minutes later. Annnad was getting abuse from the Clyde support and he responded with a powerful header past Halliwell. Would he have tried so hard if our support hadn’t got his back up? Keogh responded with a powerful run but fluffed his shot and it drifted wide. Ayr were threatening more but couldn’t find a finish and the half ended with Halliwell’s only real work being to pick the ball out of the net.

No changes were made at half time and Clyde restarted the stronger forcing several corners but failing to threaten the Ayr defence in the air. Then the referee decided to take centre stage. What was little more than a vigorous wrestle for the ball saw Ayr’s Murray sent off and Clyde’s Fraser booked. Clyde looked good for a spell as they stretched Ayr but were rushing their shots from distance. Nish was replaced by Convery to give more running power to Clyde. Fraser broke into the box but saw his shot well parried by Nelson. Hinds then found space in the box and deftly changed feet and curled a shot onto the post. Hagen following up could only blast the ball over the bar. Clyde began to lose the initiative as Ayr regrouped. Clyde brought on McConalogue for Hinds. The final 10 minutes saw Clyde defending in numbers as Ayr piled on the pressure for the winner. There were a few close things but again Halliwell hardly had to make a save.

A point at Ayr is no bad thing but Clyde should have made their superior numbers count. For a spell it looked as though they would but somehow they lost the midfield battle and finished the game on the back foot. It was another strong defensive display from Clyde but we’re still waiting for the forwards to cut loose. Maybe they will against Ross County next week.

REACTION

Alan Kernaghan: We tried hard today but did not help ourselves with some of our play in the last third. We did, however, create a few chances and how Leigh Hinds shot hit the post and didn’t go in I don’t know. We have to look at the positives, and even though we are disappointed not to win, we did get a point. Earlier on in the season I think we would have come away with nothing.

I thought in spells we played well against 10 men and we tried to get the ball wide. But, unfortunately when we got it wide our delivery into the box was not that great. David Hagen had two chances at the back post that he himself thinks he should have done better with. So it was a nearly game. We defended well at the end. We were trying to go for a victory and pushed a lot of men forward but we perhaps lacked that bit of guile in the final third.

I did not really see why Neil Murray was sent off but I am told it was a Rocky Balboa effort where he threw a punch and was lucky he missed him. I don’t know why he did it, it just seemed they were contesting a throw in. I don’t think there was anything between the players before it and it did seem strange.

Gordon Dalziel: Afer going down to 10 men and it becomes hard and it won’t be accepted. I have spoken to one or two and they say it was a bit harsh. I did not see it myself. I spoke to someone in the Clyde dug out and they said there was not a lot in it. But, if he did lift his hands then he deserves to go. Football is hard enough with 10 men let alone 11. In saying that, I did not think they pushed us all that much. They had one shot of the post, but I did not think with 11 v 10 they did all that much.