Clyde v Falkirk

Recap

At last in front of a good amount of locals and kids Clyde pulled off a win against the league leaders. Too many times in the past Clyde have flopped badly in this sort of PR exercise, but not this time. A forceful opening allied to some resilient defending in the second half saw Clyde home.

Keogh returned to the team after Kane had failed to recover from his knock at Alloa. Otherwise the team was along the normal lines that had been producing the goals away from home. Clyde set off at a brisk pace and within seconds Ross had burst into the box and saw his shot turned around the post by Ferguson in the Falkirk goal. Clyde were pressing the midfield very hard and winning the ball back. Hinds continued his form of late showing strength allied to a silky touch out on the right. Nish nearly connected with a Hinds cross in front of goal and minutes later worked his way in from the left and let fly from the edge of the box. Ferguson was well placed to palm the shot over the bar. Keogh was maybe a bit rusty as twice he was guilty of taking the wrong option. Both times he was sent charging down the middle only to keep the ball to himself when others were in a far better position to have a shot at goal. With the sharpness of Coyle and Miller up front Falkirk were always going to threaten and Clyde were guilty of standing off them as they both had good attempts at the Clyde goal from the edge of the box. The goal was coming for Clyde and Hinds supplied it. Nish was fouled and Kernaghan raced up from the back to take a quick free kick. He raced out wide making space for Hagen to drive towards the box and as he shaped up to shoot he slipped the ball to Hinds to fire home a shot from the edge of the box. Falkirk tried to respond and Miller had his fierce shot tipped over by Halliwell. Hinds soon supplied the second goal from a similar position. A Clyde corner was cleared to him on the edge of the box and he fired the ball home again. Falkirk were clearly rattled and immediately replaced ex-Clyde man, Craig McPherson, with the pace of Samuel. Falkirk pressed hard to get something before half time but couldn’t find the target.

Falkirk weren’t top of the table for nothing and demonstrated why after the interval. For 25 minutes they pressed Clyde back with Mark Kerr pulling all the strings in midfield. Fortunately they couldn’t find a finish with Samuel having the best chance that he put straight into the arms of Halliwell. Keogh was starting to feel the pace and was replaced by Convery. As happened last week Convery went to the wing back position and Ross moved into central midfield to give Clyde some running power. Twice Ross produced lung bursting runs to keep the Falkirk defence on their toes. Falkirk were becoming increasingly frustrated and the passes were beginning to go astray. Miller, who’d hardly put in a tackle in the game had a late lunge at Convery and Referee, Hugh Dallas, decided on a straight red. Clyde made the most of the extra man and saw out the rest of the game with ease and even the Manager bursting forward on several occasions.

Clyde began with a great pace and attitude that won them the game. They had to do a power of defending in the second half, but recent form suggests they are happy to do that. The defence looks solid and Halliwell continues to impress. The midfield are working very hard with Ross and Hagen keeping the flanks solid. Up front Hinds is starting to look the part as a provider rather than an out-and-out striker. Who’s for Inverness then?

STAR RATINGS (*****)

Halliwell **** Some fine saves from our in-form keeper.
Potter *** Solid performance considering what happened at Brockville a few weeks ago.
Mensing **** Very little got past him on the left.
Kernaghan **** Cool head kept the ship steady in the second half.
Fraser ***** Ran his socks off all day as a box-to-box player should.
Ross ***** Showing another side to his game in central midfield.
Hagen *** Disciplined play from the experienced winger.
Millen *** Worked hard for the cause as ever.
Nish *** Quiet game but battled away.
Keogh *** A welcome return but looked a bit rusty.
Hinds ***** Strength, skill and now goals too! What more could you ask for?
Convery ** Didn’t have time to do much.
Bossy * Hardly touched the ball in his brief outing.

REACTION

AK: "All the hard work was done first half really. They put us under a wee bit of pressure second half but we defended it ok. Leigh’s goals were due to him as he has been threatening to do that for the last 2 or 3 weeks. The first one may have taken a slight deflection but I am pleased for him as he worked really hard. As did Colin Nish although he didn’t get the breaks today, but we all bask in the glory of victory together. We maybe didn’t pass the ball to one another in the second half but I am happy as can be really. The confidence has been high the last 6 or 7 weeks and we really just carried that on today. We have no problems going to Caley next week , it is just another game. At the moment games can’t come quick enough for us but when you are winning it is always like that, you are full of confidence. We are still learning as we go along but we are learning that bit faster at the moment."

Leigh Hinds: "Both goals were pretty much the same. The ball was laid to me at the edge of the box and I got my head over it, hit it and it went in. I was unfortunate not to score last week and came away very disappointed so I made amends this week and I am really pleased. We knew coming out in the second half that Falkirk would be fired up so our main aim was not to lose a goal. If they had managed to get a goal back it would have been harder but we defended brilliantly so we are very happy with the three points. We are aiming to win as many games as we can and get as many points as we can to just stay in. The teams above us will lose games and other teams will go on good runs like we are on at the moment. We will see what happens come February or March. The confidence is high at the moment and you try things because of that. Jack Ross today went bursting through and Bryn is on top of his game, as really all of the boys are."

Jack Ross: "It was a very good result for us. We said before the game it was a bigger game for us than for them. Defeat for us would have meant a very big gap at the top of the table, which may have been brought back, but now we have to be regarded as serious contenders. We had a few chances and forced a few corners before Leigh took his goals really well. The second half was not pretty but we came in at half-time and decided that if we scored a third it would kill the game but if they got one back it would open things up. Billy said that if we came in at full-time without losing a goal then the job was done. Since the last game at Brockville we have been on a really good run – momentum is a good thing when you get into the habit of not losing games."

McCall: "I take the blame for that defeat as I got the tactics totally wrong. We did not play the right players. I thought about it last night and in the end went with the team which has won games. Clyde dominated the first half and I felt that we dominated the second half until Lee was sent off. Hugh Dallas is a good referee but that was completely and utterly the wrong decision and when he sees it tomorrow, if he watches Football First of course, then I am sure he will realise that. But to be honest, I don’t blame their player. Of course there was contact but it was the type of challenge that looked bad but as you saw from Steve coming back on it was not bad at all. Steve Convery is obviously an honest lad."