Hamilton Academical v Clyde

Recap

Clyde were keen to bounce back, from their poor showing against Airdrie and needed little motivation against Hamilton and some familiar faces. With McGregor starting his suspension and Malone continuing his there were rare starting berths afforded to Bouadaji and Bradley in a fairly attack minded formation. Cherrie kept his place in goals and Bryson returned after missing the last two games.

Clyde, in an unfamiliar black top and red shorts guise were quick to gain control of the ball, and almost took the lead after only 4 minutes, when some neat interplay between Brighton and Williams saw the ball fall nicely to O’Donnell 18 yards out, but he opted to try and place the ball rather than get any power and Accies keeper McEwan made a good save to deny O’Donnell, but an even better save to deny the onrushing Bradley his first senior goal.

Clyde were passing the ball well and retaining possession against a weak looking Accies, but were finding it hard to create many clear cut chances. On one instance Tom Brighton burst clear but his cross come shot was either struck too hard, or Bryson did not anticipate well enough to meet at the back post, and the chance was lost. O’Donnell had a scorching drive from the edge of the box before the half time whistle, but it flew inches over to end a frustrating half for Clyde, who had played well, but created next to nothing.

An expectant and plentiful Clyde faithful expected more of the same in the second half, but it was to be the Accies who gained the ascendancy with a couple of snap shots in the first 5 minutes of the half. Defensive frailties were beginning to creep in again and Clyde had Cherrie to thank for a good reflex save from Robertson’s close range header.

Clyde made a quick breakaway with Brighton crossing low and hard for the onrushing Williams, whose effort was bravely blocked two yards out by McEwan, who was injured in the process.

On 71 minutes, Accies got a free kick about 25 yds out from goal, and decided to introduce Brian Carrigan from the bench to take it. He would weakly fire into the wall, but his moment would not be denied Two minutes later, another ex Clyde player Gilhaney, didn’t go down when challenged and crossed low and hard across the Clyde box to Carrigan, who controlled well and despatched a great volley into the corner.

The goal woke Clyde up, and they started to push up more, as Accies surprisingly decided to sit back and contain what they had. The introduction of Joe Miller with 9 minutes to go proved to be crucial. After some good link up play, Brighton released O’Donnell, who deftly chipped the ball into the box, when the ball was only partially cleared, Miller was on hand to nod the ball home to the obvious delight of the Clyde fans and Manager.

Clyde could even have won the game if O’Donnell’s shot was a couple of inches lower or if Miller had repeated his aerial prowess in the dying seconds.

In the end a draw was a fair result, but performances have dropped somewhat recently, possibly due to suspensions, and an injury to our captain. Points are still being accumulated and a slump is hardly surprising considering our play so far this season.

Cherrie **** Played well, although only had one save of note to make.
Bradley *** Energetic, and better to come, could possibly speed up his distribution, but a good shift.
Bouadaji *** Solid and committed, although caught out once or twice by unusually high bounces.
Higgins *** didn’t let harsh early booking affect him and stuck to his task well.
McKeown **** Gets better every week, solid and took responsibility in McGregor’s absence.
Masterton *** Very good passer of the ball, but seems to fade in games too quickly.
Bryson *** Disappointing return for the youngster, never got beyond forwards once.
O’Donnell ***** Excellent return to form, and was involved in all good Clyde play.
Williams *** only had one half chance. Working hard but needs to have more scraps to feed off.
Brighton *** Unusually quiet game, and seemed to lose out in battle with McLaughlin.
McGowan *** Not as effective as last week, but was possibly up against Accies best player.

Hunter * Had one shot at goal
Arbuckle * Rarely featured
Miller *** Third time he has come off bench to influence a game, Great sub to have.