Clyde v Edinburgh City

Recap

A five-star performance in Hamilton this afternoon saw Clyde close the gap to second place in William Hill League Two to just three points.

Darren Young unsurprisingly opted to field the same team that won 3-0 in Stirling on Tuesday, with Mouhamed Niang’s absence the only change to the squad. The midfielder dropped out in order to be present for the birth of his child.

The Bully Wee looked set to take the lead early on when Robbie Leitch’s cute flick found Andy Murdoch in the middle of the visitors’ box, but a superb last ditch challenge denied the Clyde captain just as he was about to pull the trigger.

A spate of cheap yellow cards – a recurring theme throughout the game – ensued as both sides sought an opener, but midway into the half, it was Clyde broke the deadlock. After Craig Howie was impeded by an Edinburgh defender as he attempted to get on the end on a deep corner delivery, referee Abbie Hendry pointed to the penalty spot. Designated spot kick taker James Hilton stepped up and made no mistake from twelve yards, tucking the ball into Mark Weir’s bottom right corner.

The Citizens were rocked after going behind and, smelling blood, Young’s men doubled their lead within five minutes. Good pressure from Clyde’s front six yielded a pair of high turnovers and from the second, Hilton was played in one-on-one with Weir. If the winger had gone six matches without a goal then it certainly didn’t show, as he side-footed a composed finish across the ‘keeper and into the same corner.

Edinburgh responded well to going two goals behind and should’ve scored at least once before the interval, with an off-balance Innes Lawson somehow missing from mere yards out before drawing a smart Jay Hogarth on the stroke of half time from outside the area.

The match in many ways mirrored that game in midweek, with Clyde a touch fortunate to have a two-goal advantage at the interval. The second half was an even more faithful representation of what The Bully Wee faithful were treated to on Tuesday, with a commanding performance yielding further goals and a quiet time of it for Hogarth.

Ten minutes after the break, Clyde grabbed their third of the afternoon. A neat exchange of passes in Edinburgh’s third saw Scott Williamson pick up possession on the edge of the area, and the striker unselfishly laid the ball off to Marley Redfern. His effort drew a smart save from Weir, but he could only parry as far as Darren Hynes who tapped in from close range to continue a fine period of personal form.

Hilton was visibly playing with confidence and, with his team continuing to put Edinburgh to the sword, grabbed a well-earned hat-trick inside the last quarter of an hour. Substitute Kyle Connell’s pass through was weighted perfectly and, though it appeared as though Weir had saved the former’s dinked effort, it snuck inside the post to make sure of the points.

Clyde had the luxury of making further changes, with Murdoch and Hilton receiving a thoroughly merited ovation, before capping a fine day’s work in injury time. Leitch’s cute through ball towards Hynes looked as though it was skidding away from the rampaging full-back, but he managed to reach it ahead of the onrushing Weir and prodded the ball across to Connell, who fulfilled the simple task of knocking into an unguarded net.

A healthy crowd of 859 showed their appreciation at the full-time whistle, with the players remaining pitchside to cap a successful launch of the club’s Kicks4Kids initiative by signing autographs and posing for photographs.