Clyde v Stranraer

Recap

Clyde started their league campaign with a disappointing draw against Stranraer at a sunny Broadwood Stadium. The Bully Wee were fortunate enough to field an unchanged starting eleven from that which defeated Cowdenbeath last Saturday, whilst their visitors dropped ex-Clyde defender, Romauld Bouadji, to the bench following their 7-1 thumping against Morton.

The match started off at a frenetic pace and Clyde displayed a bit of the confidence gained from a good opening to the season. This was shown with an ambitious corner kick from Adam Strachan that set up Kevin Finlayson on the edge of the box but his volley crept past the post. The dominance continued in this early stage and after Finlayson was fouled out on the right, Clyde took the lead. Strachan’s freekick was cleared towards the halfway line and Neil McGowan returned the ball into the penalty area. After Ross McMillan had knocked the ball down, Bryan Dingwall saw his superb overhead kick strike both posts, before top scorer Marc McCusker reacted well to slam the ball past Mitchell.

Stranraer finished last season strongly and their poor cup results are likely to only be a blip. Throughout the game, the hardworking front pair of Michael Moore and Craig Malcolm caused Clyde problems, aided by the midfield craft of Scott Agnew. Their first effort on goal was a speculative effort by Lee Sharp, which J.C. Hutchison did well to tip around the post for a corner. Malcolm then came close with a left footed shot from just outside the box. That said, Clyde continued to carry a threat on the break and a terrific move saw Ally Park’s cross met by McCusker, who headed over the bar.

The second goal for Clyde was perhaps harsh on a Stranraer side that was competing well but it once again demonstrated the qualities of McCusker. A hopeful ball over the top by Connor Stevenson was poorly dealt with by the panicking Glen Mitchell and McCusker was able to rob him and slot past the goalkeeper.

After their thumping last week, the away team may well have crumbled but the opposite was in fact true as Clyde received a massive warning. Neat play by Moore saw him release captain Daniel Mitchell and his neat lob just clipped the bar on its way over.

The match then changed in a two minute period. First, Clyde had a glorious chance to increase their lead further as McCusker powered his way past Nicoll, only for David Mitchell to superbly save his shot. The rebound fell for Dingwall but under pressure from a defender he fired over the bar. Unfortunately, this proved costly as Stranraer netted soon afterwards. A pass back from Murray Henderson ended with Hutchison being caught on the ball by Sean Winter and Malcolm reacted quickest to slot the ball into the empty net.

Clyde attempted to regain a hold of the game at the start of the second half but were to be consistently thwarted by an improving away team. Indeed, Stranraer continued to grow into the match and managed to gain an equaliser. A long throw from Sharp was knocked onto Malcolm and after shrugging off a challenge by Henderson, the striker squared the ball to his ex-Arthurlie team-mate Winter and the midfielder made no mistake with a close range shot.

Both teams had chances to take all three points, with Clyde’s opportunities falling to John Stewart. The first saw him latch onto a terrific through ball by Strachan but David Mitchell did well to block his shot. The second saw him just miss a probing Strachan cross in stoppage time. In between, Stranraer substitute, Armand One, saw a shot deflected just past the post. One also created a chance for Noble but Hutchison atoned for his earlier error with a good block.