Clyde v Livingston

Recap

After Livi’s impressive midweek win against Queen of the South, the pressure was off them, but Clyde knew they had to take something from their penultimate home match with two ominous away clashes in store. McSwegan was restored to the front line with Clarke and McKay supporting from the wider areas.

Livi would start the better and looked sharp up front through Leigh Griffiths. But his afternoon would be cut short after losing out in a clash with Wilson in midfield. Wilson was tenacious and winning everything in midfield, allowing MacLennan to show his quality on the ball. This would be a contributing factor in Clyde taking the lead. Maclennan would play a high ball over the static Livi defence for McSwegan to bear down on goal. Keeper Stewart made himself big and blocked McSwegan’s effort but Clarke was first to the rebound and finished with style to put Clyde 1-0 up.

The lead would be extended 5 minutes later, when a good run down the right hand side saw McKay cut the ball back to the edge of the box, and Maclennan struck a sweet left foot effort in to the far corner. Livi got back into the game on 29 minutes, when substitute Weir glanced home after good wing work by Snodgrass.

Clyde continued to push however and McSwegan was unlucky to see his back post scissor kick saved well again by Stewart. As half time came, the team had played well, but still had work to do to clinch the points. Some of the anxiety would have lifter only 3 minute into the half, when Clyde regained their two-goal cushion. Again MaClennan was the scorer rounding off a fine run down the right with a cool finish when a square pass and goal was also a possibility. The goal ironically made him joint top goal scorer.

Livi to be fair never gave up and were unlucky with two good efforts on goal that came back off the woodwork. They would be rewarded in bizarre circumstances when a long range Tinkler shot somehow deceived Hutton and crept in. One noticeable thing was the sensible refereeing that had seen no players cautioned until near the end when Tinkler’s cynical scythe on Clarke could and probably should have seen a more severe colour of card then yellow. Clarke had the chance to put the game to bed after being found superbly by McKay, but he didn’t realise how much time he had and rather rushed his volley by the post. The referee signaled for full time and Clyde had won at Broadwood for the first time in 2008.