Clyde v Partick Thistle

Recap

A solitary Pat Keogh strike separated the teams at a very blustery Broadwood. With Mitchell suspended we had our first look at Sammy Okikiolu and he impressed although he was only on for the first half.

Thistle playing with a strong wind at their backs started the game with obvious confidence and stroked the ball about without causing much concern in front of goal. Clyde were obviously up for this one as within a few seconds Cranmer had kicked Britton up in the air. Another wild lunge after only seven minutes gave Cranmer the cross of a yellow card to bear for the rest of the match. The first real action of the half saw the ball slipped to Keogh in the box and his first-time shot came off the inside of the post and was cleared. Clyde’s energy and aggression was starting to pay dividends and only a string of excellent saves by Gow in the Thistle goal kept Clyde out. This was the Clyde of a couple of years ago with the boys relishing every tackle. The only real concern for Clyde happened when Budd came to punch a cross and the ball caught the wind and headed back towards goal but was soon cleared. So honours even at half time with Clyde again not taking the chances afforded them.

Clyde changed things at half time with Bingham replacing Okikiolu although it’s not clear for what reason. He was booked and his style of play may have led him into further trouble. Partick came out with some renewed vigour but again they could create any clear chances. At the other end a header from Keogh just crept past the post. He wasn’t to be denied though. McClay found Ross on the right and a diagonal cross was just what Keogh was looking for. He outjumped the defence and scored. Thistle’s response went badly wrong minutes later when Hardie was given his marching orders. Following a tussle with Bingham, for which he’d won a free kick, he swung an elbow and connected with Bingham right under the nose of the referee. For a spell Clyde used the space and extra man to take the sting out of the game and Thistle looked in a sorry state. However, in the last fifteen minutes Clyde seemed to lost the plot and kept giving the ball away very cheaply. Thistle kept plugging away and a Britton shot was scrambled away by Budd whose handling was excellent all night. Thistle kept pressing but the ball wouldn’t break for them while Clyde creaked. During this time Clyde had several breaks but squandered each one with some woeful passing. After referee Young had added on five minutes of injury time for reasons best known to himself it was over.

The attitude shown by Clyde was much better tonight. They deeply wanted to win this one and they did. Had they taken some chances it would have been a less frantic end to the game. First blood to the Bully Wee.