Clyde v St. Mirren

Recap

Clyde produced a comfortable result to round off the home fixtures as injuries and a sending off curbed any challenge from St Mirren. The last game should have been a chance to try out some youngsters – but we haven’t got any! So, Graham was handed a debut in goal and Crawford made a rare start at centre forward. For whatever reason the goal threats of Hinds, Keogh and Mitchell were all left on the bench.

Clyde started the better of the teams but nothing was on target. St Mirren’s McGinty left Smith for dead but his finish was well off target which apparently has been the problem all season. Clyde continued to press and Hillcoat did well to smother an attempt at goal from a corner. The goal was coming though and Paul Kane set it up. Saints backed off and allowed him to shoot from distance.His shot was spilled by Hillcoat and Fraser was on hand to poke the ball home although he tried his best to fluff the chance as the ball got stuck between his feet. This spurred the Saints into action and they had more of the play. Their equaliser was a simple affair. McGinty carried the ball to the line and stood the ball up at the far post for Ross to head into the unguarded goal. Clyde’s debutant keeper had the unhappy task of picking the ball out of the net without having to make a save in the first half.

Despite the firepower on the bench Clyde didn’t make any changes. Saints started the half better and Graham pulled off an instinctive save from Ross to keep Clyde on level terms. Things started to go wrong for Saints as one of their defenders was carried off. Clyde won a free kick at the corner flag and took the opportunity to replace the energetic Convery with Pat Keogh. The effect was immediate. Kane fired the ball over and Keogh headed strongly home with his first touch. Saints hardly had time to recover when Clyde scored again. Again it came from a free kick. Kane looked set to go directly for goal but slid the ball to Fraser and he rifled the ball into the top corner from 25 yards. It was one of those shots that was either going in the top corner or heading for Croy Station. Saints contributed to their own downfall when their best player, Ross, was sent off for a stamping tackle on Millen. It didn’t look all that serious an offence given what the referee had let go before but he was red-carded and Saints had a mountain to climb. The huge frame of Mark Yardley was brought on by Saints but he quickly departed in strange circumstances. He collected the ball unchallenged and then seemed to collapse under his own weight when off balance. Clyde raced to the other end and Keogh nearly scored again with a cheeky back heel. Yardley didn’t get up and it’s just as well Clyde didn’t score as that would have caused a bit of a stink. Hinds replaced the anonymous Crawford and nearly scored straight away also. He was put through and Hillcoat came racing out of his area to clear. Hillcoat cleared but nearly knocked out his own man in the process. The young lad was obviously dizzy but battled on until full time. Clyde were happy to keep possession and Saints settled for damage limitation. Only a volley from Jack Ross saw another fine save from Hillcoat. Saints produced a flurry right at the end but some safe hands from Graham kept them at bay.

In the end the game was a bit of a farce with all the injuries but Clyde did the professional thing and kept the ball. After the game Simon Mensing was presented with the Player of the Year trophy and hopefully he still might be persuaded to sign. Clyde have now collected more points than last season and they are assured of at least 5th place again. Not bad really considering all the upheaval this season!