Clyde v Bonnyrigg Rose

Recap

Clyde endured a disappointing afternoon at New Douglas Park as they lost their opening home cinch League Two match at the hands of Bonnyrigg Rose.

Brian McLean made three changes to the side that drew against The Spartans with Liam Scullion and Kian Leslie missing out through injury whilst Cameron Mulvanny dropped to the bench, in favour of Euan Cameron, Conor Scullion and Stuart Carswell, who made his Bully Wee debut.

In what was a closely contested start to proceedings, the Bully Wee were the most convincing in posing a goalscoring threat. Barry Cuddihy had the first opportunity of the afternoon in the 14^th minute after connecting onto Martin Rennie’s cross, however, the Clyde captain’s shot was easily blocked by Martin. Erik Sula cottoned onto Ross Forbes’ delivery into the box from a corner, but his attempt at a volley whistled narrowly over the bar.

Meanwhile, in the 21^st minute, Cuddihy found himself well-positioned in the box to react to Jon Craig’s pass, but he struggled to direct the ball goalwards.

As the match reached the half hour mark, the hosts remained unable to make their possession of the ball count and carve open the visitor’s stubborn defence. Clyde were awarded two free-kicks in the 33^rd and 38^th minute respectively.  Forbes’ first effort went narrowly wide, while for the second, the onrush of Clyde bodies were unable to connect as the ball floated past the goalmouth.

However, it was Bonnyrigg who opened the scoring on the stroke of half time. Jarvis was allowed to take advantage of a slip-up in the Clyde defence to drill the ball past Parry and into the bottom corner from the centre of the box.

The Rose were relentless in advancing up the park as they aimed to extend their lead after the restart. Currie was denied by Parry as the ‘keeper blocked his effort from outside the box, while Jarvis’ effort from the edge of the box was also saved.

In the 68^th minute, the visitor’s came close to extending their lead. Osadolor squared the ball to Watson from the top corner of the box, but his point-blank effort careered wide. Elsewhere, three minutes later, Fraser Malcolm went agonisingly close in a rare opportunity for the hosts. The forward met Cuddihy’s long-arching cross into the box, but his header from the back post sailed just over the bar.

Parry was called into action in the 78^th minute as he swiftly diverted Watson’s shot back into play with his palm, which Josh McCulloch then cleared. With the clock ticking down into the final 10 minutes, The Bully Wee were struggling to possess more of a presence in the visitors’ half to force a late equaliser.

Clyde were left to curse a lack of urgency in their play as the Rose sealed their victory with one minute of normal time remaining. Parry came from his box to make a clearance, but it only went as far as Barrett who pounced on the stray ball from 25 yards out and crashed it into the back of the net.