Clyde v Partick Thistle

Recap

Clyde rounded off their Glasgow Cup group stage campaign with a draw against a young Partick Thistle side in Hamilton this evening, before the visitors claimed the bonus point via a penalty shootout.

The competition has proved to be a valuable outlet for getting minutes into the legs of sparingly used players in recent seasons and so it proved again, with Darren Young making nine changes to the starting XI which drew with Forfar on Saturday. There was also a late inclusion in the starting XI for Shay Nevans, with Mouhamed Niang withdrawing during the warm-up.

The game was evenly contested in rainswept conditions, and both sides had opportunities to score in the first half. For Clyde, Nevans’ powerful drive drew a smart stop from Thistle ‘keeper Connor Storey, whilst the visitors saw Mathew Falconer power a low shot just wide of Brian Kinnear’s post.

The Bully Wee started to control the game a bit more after the break, with half time substitute Marley Redfern in particular causing the visitors problems. Just after the hour, he was felled by Storey having narrowly beaten him to a loose ball in The Jags’ box, with Lennon Connolly cheekily chipping the resulting penalty down the middle to net his first Clyde goal.

The hosts fashioned plenty of dangerous opportunities but couldn’t find another goal to kill the game off, leading to Thistle equalising with a few minutes remaining. Daniel Gray was afforded far too much space in the middle of the box, as he pulled down a cross before firing a shot past Kinnear.

Barry Cuddihy missed the opening penalty of a surprisingly high-quality shootout and, after the other nine were expertly dispatched, Thistle claimed the bonus point. With Clyde already having qualified from the group stage prior to tonight, the upshot of this evening’s action is that they now face a trip to Auchenhowie to face Rangers B in the semi final of the competition.