Clyde v Manchester United

Recap

CLYDE: Cherrie, McGregor, Malone, Higgins, McKeown, McHale, Bryson, O’Donnell, Arbuckle, Hunter, Bouadji. SUBS: Brawley, Bradley, Dick, Masterton, J Miller, Hilland, McGowan, Stirling. SUBS NOT USED: D Miller, Sidibe, Hutchison.

MANCHESTER UNITED (first half): Van der Sar, McShane, Richardson, Pique, Ferdinand, Fletcher, Jones, Kleberson, Rossi, Saha, Park. (second half): Howard, Bardsley, Eckersley, Smith, O’Shea, Silvestre, Miller, Rooney, Scholes, van Nistelrooy, Giggs.

To the delight of everyone at Broadwood, Manchester United fielded two completely different sides, one in each half, to give the near capacity crowd the chance to see twenty-two of the biggest names in English football.

The fans were treated to a fine show from both United sides and the newly formed Clyde side more than contributed to a fine match and a great occasion.

The famous visitors took a little time to get going; Giuseppe Rossi being the first player to try his luck in front of goal with a thirteenth minute angled drive which flew past the far post. Less than sixty seconds later and the visitors should have been in front when Brazilian midfielder Kleberson found himself in a great position to score but to the relief of ‘keeper Peter Cherrie and his fellow defenders the South American blazed his shot over the crossbar. However, it was the Brazilian international who eventually put the Old Trafford men into the lead, in the thirty-first minute, when he pounced on a loose ball after Louis Saha’s shot had been pushed away by Peter Cherrie, who had by this time already impressed home and away supporters alike. New signing Park Ji-Sung, the debutant Korean midfielder playing wide on the right, was also involved in the build-up to the goal.

One-nil at half-time was a highly satisfactory outcome from a Clyde point of view but the Reds’ put on a completely different team in the second half and the new line-up took just three minutes to increase the lead, with three of the Manchester United’s biggest-names involved in the move. Ryan Giggs found Ruud van Nistelrooy, who was challenged in the area, but the ball was played to Paul Scholes who steered a low angled shot past Cherrie. Clyde very nearly pulled one back in the fiftieth minute when Mikael Silvestre’s poor back-pass very nearly let in Gary Arbuckle, but the combined efforts of Tim Howard and John O’Shea recovered the situation. Van Nistelrooy then grabbed United’s third goal from the penalty spot in the fifty-eighth minute after being fouled by Cherrie, who found himself stranded. Neil McGregor, drawing the biggest cheer of the day, pulled one back for Clyde in the 77th minute, after Steven Masterton’s corner had caused confusion in the United penalty area, but Bully Wee joy was to be short-lived. Less than a minute later and Liam Miller restored the three-goal margin after taking a short pass from van Nistelrooy. Five minutes from the end, United competed what for them was later desribed as a highly satisfactory run out when van Nistelrooy ran on to a measured Rooney through-ball to convincingly score his second, and United’s fifth.

In the end, and not unexpectedly, Manchester United were far too strong for Graham Roberts’ boys – and the Red Devils had finally beaten Clyde at the third attempt!