Clyde v Heart of Midlothian

Recap

Clyde completed their pre season build up with an excellent 2-0 victory at home to a young Hearts side. The Bully Wee impressed throughout the match with their style of passing and flowing football and in the end it was a comfortable victory.

Paul McHale was prominent in the centre of the midfield and it was his fine passes that allowed the wingbacks to get behind the Heart’s defence. Kevin Bradley too was a handful for the Hearts defence and his skill encouraged the home support as he tormented the Heart’s rightback and linked well with his teammates.

Last season Clyde relied heavily on the goals of Stephen O’Donnell and although he did not get on the scoresheet, he did show signs that he will need to be watched again by opposition defences but today his long range shots brought no reward.

Hearts occasionally broke forward but found Peter Cherrie in excellent form.

Clyde came closest to breaking the deadlock with a fine backpost header by Dougie Imrie that was scrambled off the line but in the end had to be content with a goalless first half.

The second half brought the deserved goals.The opener came after a corner kick was not properly cleared and McGowan fired home clinically across the keeper into the net. The Bully Wee’s second was a familiar tale, an O’Donnell corner flicked on at the front post and bundled into the net and this time it appeared that Higgins was the scorer though there remains some debate about it.

Most encouraging for Clyde was the return of Neil McGregor to first team action though in truth he was overshadowed by another fine performance in central defence of Robert Harris.

In midfield Paul McHale showed his worth to the side as he prompted play and Craig Bryson got stronger as the game progressed. Up front Kevin Bradley is showing signs that this is his season to make the breakthrough to regular first team action while Imrie continues to demonstrate an admirable workrate and strength to worry defences.

It was an entertaining game and certainly a worthwhile exercise for the players but the practices are over and the stakes are raised as the season starts next Saturday at Perth.

CLYDE: Cherrie, McGregor (MacLennan), Bradley (McKenna), Higgins, Harris, McHale, Bryson, O’Donnell, Arbuckle (Malone), Imrie (Trialist), McGowan. SUB NOT USED: Scott.