Clyde v Dunfermline Athletic

Recap

Clyde continued their good form of late when they gained revenge for their Cup defeat at the hands of the Pars two weeks ago.

The imposing figure of Evangelino Valentim would have to wait for his chance to shine on the bench, and Dusan Bestvina made his home debut after impressing against Queen of the South. Clyde maintained the 4-5-1 formation with Cardle and Imrie asked to support McGowan upfront at every opportunity.

The visitors would be first to threaten when a Glass free kick was met in the area by the towering figure of Sol Bamba, but his header was straight at Hutton. Glass would come close himself on 10 minutes, when a clearance from a corner fell to him 20 yards out, but he couldn’t keep his dipping volley down.

Having weathered the mild storm, Clyde, and in particular Masterton, began to take control. On 18 minutes his impressive performance was rewarded. Good possession involving Masterton, Higgins, Imrie and Masterton again, saw the big midfielder latch on to MacLennan’s dinked through pass. Any suspicion of offside was ignored as Masterton calmly slotted home. Credit to the referee, who allowed advantage after a couple of infringements had taken place.

Clyde continued to press, with Smith taking a pop from long distance, Masterton again making a keeper work with a free kick, and Higgins almost scoring from a driven Masterton corner at the near post. There was concern however when Ruari MacLennan was forced off after 35 minutes with a head injury that would later be revealed was not as serious as first thought.

Dunfermline were struggling to cope with Clyde’s enthusiasm, and only carved out one more chance in the half, when Crawford scooped over from close range.

The outlook of the match could have changed very quickly had Mark Burchill took the games best chance just two minutes after the re-start. A long hopeful clearance from Young eluded the defence and saw the pacey forward burst through on goal, but his shot was straight at Hutton, and the chance was lost.

Clyde would continue to control the game, and thought they may have equalized from a most unlikely source. A long, wind assisted kick-out from Hutton, reached the opponents box, where Imrie and Gallagher jumped for the ball. Both missed and the ball ended up in the net. The Clyde was adjudged to have jumped unfairly and the goalie got the decision, but also a burst mouth that would see him leave the game.

One of replacement keeper Murdoch’s first tasks was to pick the ball out of the net, as Clyde went two up in a match for the first time this season. A long Masterton drive was deflected into the path of young Div McGowan who finished superbly for his first senior goal.

Three minutes later, and McGowan had an even better chance to add more realism to the score line, after he had evaded the despairing Simmons on the halfway line he burst goal wards, but strangely decided to check back under pressure from Glass, and was duly tackled and the chance lost.

5 minutes later and Dunfermline would grab a lifeline. A deep Burchill cross was headed clear by McGregor, who then appeared to be clattered by Hamilton. The ref played on, and McManus would clip the ball back towards goal, where Burchill had stole back in and he would make up for his earlier miss by heading home.

If this goal was supposed to have acted as a catalyst for a Dunfermline comeback, then thankfully for Clyde it did not materialize, or simply Clyde made sure it didn’t, by re-asserting themselves and again carving out the better chances. None more so than when Masterton’s quick thinking and vision saw him chip a quick free kick through to McGowan, whose heavy first touch, saw him try to round Murdoch, only for the sub keeper to palm the ball away to safety.

Clyde would be quite content to retain possession and see out the game, and achieved this with little opposition, for a more than welcome three points.