Clyde v Hamilton Academical

Recap

Clyde were unfortunate not to take all three points from this four-goal derby thriller. The Bully Wee seemed to be well on top shortly after half-time, when O’Donnell added to his earlier score, but Hamilton produced a dramatic response that saw them level up within a couple of minutes. The final result was in doubt to the last minute but it will be the home side that have cause to be more disappointed with the loss of two points. Clyde’s inability to kill a game off once again let them down.

Certainly, former Bully Wee star and current Accies hero, Brian Carrigan, was a relieved man after he had missed a penalty kick and a chance to put his team right back in the game. The side now managed by former Bully Wee gaffer, Billy Reid, looked down and out – especially as Clyde went straight upfield and scored – but Hamilton changed the team round and launched a spirited recovery to claim a point. Clyde were left to rue their failure to hold on to what appeared to be a decisive two-goal lead.

It was the visitors who enjoyed the better of the opening exchanges. Carrigan fired narrowly over the bar after latching on to a Thomson knockdown and then he tested Peter Cherrie with a stinging volley which the keeper took two attempts to smother. Clyde took fully ten minutes to threaten, a thumping header from Tom Brighton clattering back off the woodwork. Despite Brighton’s close call, it was unquestionably Hamilton in the early driving seat as former Bully Wee players, Carrigan and Mark Gilhaney, both passed up very presentable openings to make their supremacy tell.

However, for all Hamilton’s enterprise and carving of the clearer chances, it was Clyde who started to push upfield and exert their authority over the match. And, as a result, it was Clyde who went in at the break with the lead. In 28 minutes, Stephen O’Donnell got the ball on the halfway line, surged forward and let fly from 25 yards. His speculative effort took a wicked deflection off Neil and flew into the net past the wrong-footed Jellema. It was a goal with a heavy touch of good fortune but it fitted into the run of play.

Clyde’s Brighton then inadvertently denied his side a quick second goal when Neil McGreogor’s header appeared to hit the striker.

If Accies spent the interval feeling sorry for themselves, they were to be dealt a double-whammy early in the second period. First, Carrigan – who has apparently never missed a penalty before – saw his low spot-kick brilliantly stopped by Peter Cherrie after the referee had adjudged Chris Higgins to have upended Gilhaney in the area. There were doubts by the home fans about the penalty decision but there were no doubts at all about the quality of the keeper’s save. The kick was accurate and hard enough, the keeper‘s reaction was just better.

Secondly, with the cheers caused by Cherrie’s stop still reverberating around Broadwood, the home team doubled their lead with yet another touch of fortune. Stephen O’Donnell’s curling free kick was inexplicably spilled over the line by the Accies keeper, Jellema. The ball somehow made its way under the keeper and into the net.

Two goals down and everything seemingly going against them, Hamilton were allowed to get back into the game by some dubious defending by the Bully Wee. The first was a simple goal that clearly infuriated the Clyde Manager, Graham Roberts, in the dugout. A long free kink by Carrigan was met by the Accies player-coach, Stuart Balmer – also with Clyde last season, in the same position – who took full advantage of the space he was afforded by a daydreaming home rearguard to halve the deficit.

With Clyde still rattled, Hamilton were level a couple of minutes later. Juanjo played in fellow Spaniard, Rudy Torres, who had recently emerged from the bench, and with Cherrie hesitant, the little hitman restored parity.

The game was there for the taking and play swung from end to end as both teams went for the win. Brighton passed up a gilt-edged chance when he shot wide of goal with the away keeper in no man’s land and, at the other end, Cherrie made a point blank denial from a Carrigan header. By the final whistle, honours had again been split, for the third time in three meetings.