Clyde v Alloa Athletic

Recap

In a game that went exactly as most of us had dreaded Clyde at least emerged with a point and Bryn Halliwell a clean sheet. Apart from that it was another blow to the confidence of players, management and fans as Clyde failed to score against an Alloa team that everybody else has been drubbing. At the moment we just don’t look like scoring.

Changes were promised and Bossy replaced Smith in the centre of the defence. Hagen was on from the start and Hinds was back at centre forward. Otherwise it was the same 3-5-2 system with sadly the same struggling performance.

Clyde at least began with a bit of gusto but neither keeper was unduly bothered by anything resembling a good attempt on goal. By the middle of the half Alloa had strangled the game and it looked like the same old result would follow. Alloa’s first real attack saw Halliwell struggling to push away a free kick that bounced in front of him. Clyde did eventually carve open two good chances but Nish missed both of them. The first saw him presented with what looked like a tap in at the far post but it was deflected into the side netting. Worse was to follow as when put clear he delayed and delayed his shot until he was tackled. As the half ended Clyde fans feared the worse as they had seen this type of game so many times before.

Despite the poor first half Alan Kernaghan decided against any hasty changes. The game soon descended into a dour struggle as Clyde failed to impose any sort of plan. That was to Alloa’s advantage as they began to revel in the broken play and sensed the usual breakaway winner. Nish was having a nightmare and was replaced by Cosgrove allowing Keogh to move into the forward line. Clyde did have an odd chance though. Potter’s header crashing onto the bar being the most notable. Otherwise Clyde became more and frustrated and some very clumsy touches in the penalty box were ruining the build up play. Our problems on the left surfaced with a tired and possibly injured Hagen coming off. McClay went into the midfield and Fraser again ended up at left wingback. Fraser only lasted there minutes as he too was replaced by Convery. Amazingly Convery took up the left wingback role. Convery gives you running power and aggression. What he doesn’t give you, being one of the most right-footed players in the squad, is a left foot cross or disciplined defensive play. By the end of the game Clyde looked a mess and Alloa nearly sneaked a winner at the death.

It’s very depressing to see Clyde fail to take the odd good chance, but the general play isn’t producing many chances either. We’ve played some poor teams recently and haven’t had the flair or method to break them down. Alloa did their usual act and once again Clyde fell well short of the quality mark. We had loads of possession but zero cutting edge. With Falkirk coming next week the omens don’t look good.

REACTION

(Apologies for the shortened match reaction, which is due to a technical problem. This will be fixed by next week.)

TERRY CHRISTIE: We had 2 hours on Tuesday against Raith Rovers, so we are pleased with a draw. There wasn’t a lot of football playd but in terms of application it was excellent. We didn’t play for a draw but I am pleased to get a clean sheet.

ALAN KERNAGHAN: I’m obviously disappointed, but I haven’t gone into the dressing room shouting and balling – I don’t think the players can feel any worse than they already do. Their confidence is very low at the moment. I know what I’m going to get from 3 or 4 players every week and I can rely on them, but it’s a mystery from week to week with all the others.

Having said that, we are only 6 league games into the season. I’m not hitting the panic button yet but I’d by lying if I said I wasn’t worried about the results. If a couple of things click, and we get the right breaks, I’m confident we will give someone a doing soon.