Montrose v Clyde

Recap

The Bully Wee sank to a dismal scoreline at Links Park this afternoon, which moved the club to the bottom of the Third Division.

Last-minute signing Nicki Paterson was handed a debut in midfield, alongside the returning Graham Girvan and John Sweeney. Bryan Dingwall also came back into the side in attack.

It was another match that Clyde started well but, once again, couldn’t find an early goal to take advantage of the dominance. Adam Strachan had a chance inside the first minute but his shot was squirmed away by the home ‘keeper.

Despite Clyde being on top in the opening exchanges, the match was to turn on its head during a crazy few minutes. With 27 minutes on the clock, a Gable Endies counter-attack led to Graham Girvan committing a foul at the edge of the box, which was controversially ruled as a red card offence by referee Des Roache.

Two minutes later and with the Bully Wee still trying to regroup, another home attack saw a collision between Ross McMillan and Paul Tosh in the box which led to some bizarre officiating. Roache, placed only yards away from the incident, was quick to show Tosh a yellow card for simulation. However, after much discussion, the stand side assistant referee managed to convince Mr Roache that he was wrong and a penalty was awarded, with McMillan seeing red. Tosh’s involvement wasn’t finished there, as he stepped up to slot the spot kick into the bottom corner of the net.

As Clyde tried to come to terms with the numerical disadvantage, Ross McCord made it 2-0 with a soft header which was a further blow ahead of the interval.

The second period had the potential to be a non-event but it proved to be a sorry half of football for everyone associated with the club, as Montrose ruthlessly added another six to the scoreline. The task was undoubtedly a very difficult one for the remaining nine men in white, but the manner in which some of the goals were lost was disappointing for all concerned.

Clyde’s only scant consolation came from Alan Lithgow, when he met a free-kick delivery by Ricky Waddell and squeezed a header into the net.