Clyde v Dundee

Recap

Dundee started the better team and Bobby Mann had the ball in the net after just seven minutes but it did not count as the visitors were penalised for a foul by Simon Lynch on keeper Paul Jarvie.

Three minutes later a clever pass by Dundee’s Scott Robertson enabled Tam McManus to break clear, only to see his shot hit an upright. For the nest twenty minutes the visitors continued to have the bulk of the possession but seldom directly threatened the Clyde goal.

The end of Dundee’s early domination was signalled by a superbly struck Steven O’Donnell free kick which went just wide of the post after twenty-eight minutes. Four minutes later Clyde threatened to make the breakthrough when keeper Jack failed to hold Tom Brighton’s effort but the Dens Parkers managed to scramble the ball away to safety.

Ten minutes before the interval, Dundee’s Robertson sent in a cross which beat Paul Jarvie and landed on top of the junction of post and bar and, in the last incident of note before the interval, Tom Brighton had another chance to open the scoring but Jack thwarted him to keep the match scoreless at half-time.

Nine minutes into the second half, the visitors’ Iain Anderson fired in a cross from the right, Lynch allowed the ball to run to Robb but the Dundee winger’s shot went just over.

A goal eventually came in the sixty-first minute when Adrian Madaschi’s fifty-yard, apparently speculative, punt up the park by-passed the Clyde defence and Simon Lynch quickly latched on to it, beating the advancing Jarvie to the ball, lifting the ball over the Clyde keeper, before flicking the ball over two covering Clyde men into the net.

There was some differences of opinion amongst the Clyde support about the extent of Paul Jarvie’s culpability in conceding this goal.

Five minutes after going one down, Graham Roberts brought on Joe Miller as Dundee showed some signs of sitting back on their lead. As a result Clyde began to seize the initiative, and eight minutes after taking the field Joe Miller equalised.

The Clyde Assistant Manager pounced on a loose ball in the box, and as a trio of Dundee defenders dithered instead of clearing their lines, the veteran took the ball from the feet of Barry Smith then fired a powerful shot from ten yards low past Dees’ keeper Kevin Jack.

The equaliser came with just fourteen minutes left to play, with Clyde, adopting an attacking formation throughout, looking likely until then to play the role of gallant losers.

Two minutes later Jim Duffy’s men almost regained the lead as Steven Robb, after a run which took him past three Bully Wee defenders, hit the base of the post then Scott Robertson, to the amazement of the travelling support, blasted the rebound wide when it looked easier to score.

A let-off for Clyde but they gave as good as they got in the last ten minutes as both sides went for the three points. It finished 1-1 and there was no doubt which set of fans were the happier at that outcome.

Clyde Manager Graham Roberts was equally delighted and felt his young side might just could grabbed all three points in the end. ‘It was disappointing to go a goal down from what looked like a mistake by the keeper but these things happen. So I decided to put the youngest player we have on – and it worked. We felt it was the right time to put people on with fresh legs and have a go.

"We do not want to draw games. We want to win and entertain. The effort from the team was fantastic. We deserved what we got and we nearly got all three points.