Clyde v Inverness Caledonian Thistle

Recap

With the fare at Clyde’s previous midweek games being of the mince variety few were expecting Clyde to be 3 up within 16 minutes of the start. Yet Clyde, aided by a nervous Inverness keeper, stormed into what looked like an unassailable lead. However, Barry Robson and a less than decisive Clyde defence meant that the game wasn’t secured until near the end. Sadly only 703 were there to see one of Clyde’s most biggest victories of the season against a team reckoned to be a title challenger. A trait of Clyde this season is that they have been slow starters – not tonight!

Clyde decided to experiment up front and began with Keogh, McConalogue and Gilhaney. Little did we know how quickly it would pay dividends. Clyde kicked off and played the ball wide to Keogh. The ball was passed to Gilhaney who spun his marker and fed the ball to the unmarked McConalogue who side-footed the ball into the net from about 16 yards. Clyde had scored after only a few seconds without Caley touching the ball! Keogh nearly made it two but only headed into the keepers arms. The next goal wasn’t long in coming though. A Caley attack broke down and Clyde quickly fed the ball up to the forwards. The ball was laid back to the advancing Millen and his accurate shot found the corner of the net. In truth it wasn’t the fiercest shot and the Caley keeper, Brown, seemed to misjudge the shot and dived too late for it. Caley tried to respond with Hislop and Robson being prominent but before long Clyde went three up. On 16 minutes Hagen went down the left with McConalogue for company. McConalogue fired the ball into the box and the hesitant Caley defence all missed it while Gilhaney stabbed the ball towards goal. Again the keeper’s reactions didn’t look too great as he dragged the ball back from behind the line. As you might expect Clyde began to drop off the pace as Caley tried to stage a recovery. In a farcical mess a through ball was neither met by Halliwell or Kernaghan but fell to Caley’s Hislop. With Clyde’s keeper and manager arguing at this point he advanced towards goal but couldn’t find the net. Halliwell raged at Kernaghan and he raged back to the extent that he pushed him over. Ideally this is not the kind of team spirit the fans like to see. Clyde continued to back off and Robson scored a beauty from outside the box. The ball fell to him and he fired in a volley the went in via the post. With Clyde’s defence looking less the brilliant Caley nearly pulled another back from a free kick. The cross was firmly met but Halliwell dived to his right and recovered the ball at the second attempt. As the half drew to a close it was clear that Clyde’s two-goal advantage was looking vulnerable as Caley had previously overcame a three-goal deficit at Somerset Park earlier in the season.

Clyde didn’t make any changes and the surprise was that Caley didn’t either. Straight form the whistle Clyde were the first to threaten. This time Keogh found himself on the right and fired towards goal. The ball came off the keeper’s chest and Keogh couldn’t reach the rebound. Caley began to see a lot of the ball as Clyde settled into a defensive formation that seemed to invite them on. Again despite conceding the midfield very little was getting through to Halliwell. A corner saw a header flash towards goal but Halliwell held it safely above his head. In a rare Clyde break Fraser botched a 4 on 3 break at the edge of the Caley box with Gilhaney waiting for a pass. With tackles starting to fly in Gilhaney was replaced by Shields. Caley brought on another forward too and in an unexpected move Keogh moved to the back to even up the numbers. Potter came close with a great header from a corner but McConalogue was too short to meet it at the post. With a cup tie against Celtic in mind Caley decided to remove the ever-potent threat of Robson. Clyde swapped McConalogue for Falconer and eventually Hagen for Cosgrove. Halliwell produced another good save at his near post as Caley threatened to make it a tight finish but it was Clyde who scored another. Mensing broke up an attack and advanced forward. He timed his pass nicely to Shields who had a clear run at the keeper. Shields kept his cool and slotted home a goal with 5 minutes to go and allowed everybody to breath easily.

The experiment with Keogh beside 2 smaller and sharper forwards seemed to work well. Gilhaney’s sharpness make a big difference and the flank play of Ross and Hagen was much better tonight. Same formation for Ayr United on Saturday? You won’t find many that would object.

STAR RATINGS (*****)

Halliwell **** Fine game once again. Get the contract sorted now!
Potter **** Much improved on recent performances.
Mensing **** Back to his usual steady self.
Kernaghan *** Steady enough but ruined by some very casual play at times.
Fraser *** Great effort but his touch still isn’t quite there.
Ross **** Tremendous effort from the recently recovered wingback.
Hagen **** Ran the left very well until he seemed to get injured.
Millen *** Battled away and scored – what more can you ask?
Keogh *** Still trying to find his bearings but slowly getting there.
McConalogue **** So this is what he’s capable of? Some more please.
Gilhaney **** Looks like a great prospect for Clyde.
Shields ** Scored at last but saw little of the ball.
Falconer * Didn’t do much but blaze a good chance over.
Cosgrove * No time to make an impact.

REACTION

Alan Kernaghan: – "It makes a nice change to get off the mark quickly. Delighted as the game was won inside 15 minutes. We must have caught them still on the bus. But at 3-0 up it would have been nice to go on to dominate but it was not that case. We know they are a good side and when you look at it at the end of the game it was never really a 4-1 victory. They were very good but we managed to keep them at bay."

"It was a great night and fantastic for McConalogue, Shields and Gilhaney getting another goal so I am delighted for them. Billy and I felt that we should have a go at them as we have nothing to lose at this stage of the season which was why we went with three up front. And it was nice that it came off."

Paul Shields: – "I was a bit disappointed not to be starting, but from the scoreline it was obviously the right decision. But at the end of the day I managed to break my duck so I can