Clyde v Forfar Athletic

Recap

Clyde registered a comfortable victory at home this afternoon, in doing so climbing to the summit of the League Two table.

Darren Young was without the services of Barry Cuddihy and Marley Redfern after the pair picked up injuries in Annan last week; Kyle Connell was reinstated to the starting line-up in place of the latter, with James Hilton deployed off the left side.

The visitors’ energy in midfield had been a key factor in their bright start to the season and they moved the ball about well in the first half, but The Bully Wee were the team asking the most questions with their more direct approach. Timam Scott and Connell both had sighters from range in the opening exchanges, with Neil Stafford equal to the former’s and the latter’s free kick bending just wide of the near post.

The deadlock was broken in the eleventh minute, when Connell’s long throw found Lewis Lovering. The left-back’s headed knockdown found its way to Hilton at the back post, and the attacking midfielder hammered a shot underneath Stafford and into the back of the net from an acute angle.

Just beyond the half hour mark, The Loons worked Clyde ‘keeper Jay Hogarth for the first time when a naive bit of play set the visitors on the counter. The ball was squared across to Aiden Haddow, but his powerful strike was beaten away by the home number one.

Minutes later, the hosts doubled their advantage. Forfar cleared the danger following a ball into their area, but another towering header from the impressive Lovering bounced all the way in behind the visiting defence; Scott Williamson gambled on it, holding off a pair of defenders superbly before composing himself and slotting the ball into the bottom corner.

Williamson should’ve added a third before half time; he found himself one-on-one with Stafford and opted to round him, before seeing his eventual attempt blocked by a defender. With the whistle looming, an attempted clearance from the visitors rippled their side netting before Craig Howie failed to keep his free header down from the resulting corner.

The home side weren’t content to sit on their two-goal advantage upon the restart and looked to find a killer third. The pressure had been building before it arrived on the hour; Williamson atoned for his earlier miss with a fabulous goal, cutting inside a defender before curling an unstoppable strike inside Stafford’s far post.

Clyde could have added further goals against an increasingly wide-open Forfar side in the time that remained, but came closest shortly after when Hilton struck the inside of the post. The away team might’ve pulled a goal back to set up an interesting finale, but found Hogarth in fine form, never more so than when he produced an incredible reaction save from a close-range header to secure his – and his team’s – first league clean sheet of the campaign.