Clyde v Raith Rovers

Recap

A very much needed win although everyone will now be suffering from frayed nerves. Clyde got off to a great start, were cruising 20 mins into the second half and then within a minute found themselves pegged back and with every chance of being beaten. Fortunately Convery came to the rescue and headed in the winner.

Both teams played 3 men up front which led to a very open game. Hagen scored what must be the fastest goal at Broadwood. Clyde kicked off and Hagen got the ball on the left touchline. He advanced, cut inside and then sent a cracking shot into the net. Rovers responded straight away and Budd had to be sharp to push away a Rovers shot. Rovers were determined to get back into the game and free headers for Henderson and Smith came to nothing. Then Clyde doubled the advantage with a strike from Millen. The ball sat up for him about 25 yards out and he let fly with a volley. With aid of a deflection, the keeper slipping and it skipping off the turf, it was destined to find the back of the net. The confidence was up and Keogh had a great effort. He picked up the ball on the touchline, beat 2 men and cracked a shot into the side netting. Sadly that was the last we were to see of him as an attacking force. Cranmer came off second best in a physical tussle with Andy Smith. It sounded and looked like a classic broken nose. So Keogh reverted to centre back and Convery came on up front. Rovers had vociferous claims for a penalty but the Referee said no and Clyde went into the break with a comfortable 2 goal cushion.

Once again Hagen was withdrawn at half time and replaced by Dunn. Clyde withstood the initial Rovers surge with Henderson coming closest with a neat lob. Crawford and Hinds should have extended the lead and made the game safe. With his only chance of the game, Crawford could only hit the ball off the keeper from point blank range. Hinds hit a tremendous shot from outside the box but it came off the underside of the bar and bounced out to safety. Then it all went wrong. Bryan Smith lost the ball to Nacho Novo on the edge of the box and the tricky winger picked his spot under Budd. Worse was to follow seconds later. Rovers won a corner and Andy Smith headed in the equalizer. All bets were now on Rovers going on to win the game. To their credit Clyde fought back and scored another. A great run and cross from Bingham was met by the head of Convery to score what turned out to be the winner. Rovers went all out to snatch something from the game with a succession of free kicks and corners but to no avail. Luck and some stout defending saw Clyde through to their first victory in weeks.

It was heartening to see Clyde scoring goals once again. Rovers came with a very attacking formation and that suited Clyde’s style. Without scoring Hinds looks like he’ll start bagging goals very soon. Bingham offered a bit more skill than Ross does on the right, but he doesn’t have the physical presence. The defence is still in a bit of a mess though. It wasn’t helped by Cranmer going off, but they’re still conceding too many goals (12 in the last 5 games). It was a good win but there is still much work to be done.