East Stirlingshire v Clyde

Recap

Clyde left Ochilview with a point after a game with East Stirlingshire that struggled to ever spark into life.

The Bully Wee mixed up their line-up a bit with the introductions of Murray Henderson, Ricky Waddell and Willie Sawyers, for the suspended Marc McCusker, Neil McGowan and the now released trialist Kenny Connolly. These changes saw Ross McMillan move into midfield alongside John Sweeney.

The home team included ex-Clyde players Paul Hay, Alex Walker and David Dunn in their line-up and were first to threaten the goal. A loose ball fell in the box to Scott Johnston but the striker hooked his shot past the far post.

Clyde were struggling to get Adam Strachan involved in the game and this meant that they were failing to create many chances. Their first real effort came midway through the half as McMillan did well to get the ball out from under his feet and hit a shot from 25 yards that Michael Andrews saved well. From the resulting corner, Alan Lithgow was just inches away from converting Waddell’s delivery.

Without ever dominating, the Bully Wee created all of the chances in the game and the next opportunity fell to Sawyers but after turning inside Hay but his shot was stopped low down by Andrews. Sweeney then missed a terrific chance when Sawyers’ header dropped to him and the midfielder could only hook over the bar from close range.

The first part of the second half saw even less in the way of goalmouth action as both team’s defences got the better of the strikers. In a bid to change things, Sweeney was soon replaced by Connor Stevenson. Clyde goalkeeper J.C. Hutchison had to look lively on a couple of occasions to come out and collect through balls but his solitary save over the 90 minutes was a comfortable catch from Walker’s long range shot.

As both teams tired, space opened up for Strachan and his cross found Bryan Dingwall, only for his touch towards goal to be stopped by Andrews. Sawyers then saw a header easily saved before the striker was replaced by John Stewart. The next opportunity fell to Dingwall after McMillan had knocked down Park’s free kick but again, Andrews did well to save at his near post.

All of the remaining opportunities were to fall to Clyde wide-man Kevin Finlayson and after some brilliant play by Strachan, the ex-Morton player was given a great chance to shoot for goal from 12 yards, only for Richardson to block superbly. That combination was once again utilised just five minutes from the end but after a terrific cross by Strachan, Finlayson just failed to get a decisive touch at the back post.

The final couple of efforts were long range shots by Finlayson and Lithgow but neither seriously troubled Andrews and the match reached the inevitable conclusion as a 0-0 draw.