Partick Thistle v Clyde

Recap

Clyde slumped to the foot of the Irn Bru First Division table after a demoralising defeat at the hands of Partick Thistle.

After a season riddled with injuries, Clyde were able to choose from a strong pool of players for the first time in months. Another host of changes to the line-up saw Marvyn Wilson line up at left-back, Mark Brown at right-back and Pat Clarke on the right of midfield. One positive was the return of Willie McLaren for the first time since the start of August; he started up front.

The home side came into the match on the back of a good win over previous league leaders Queen of the South and pressed the Bully Wee back into their own half straight away. After an early corner was cleared successfully, another set piece yielded the opening goal as Willie Kinniburgh out-jumped Billy Gibson and from his header, Liam Buchanan spun in the box and thumped a shot into the top corner from 6 yards.

Despite pushing Wilson into midfield and settling into a more organised 3-5-2 system, Clyde failed to trouble Jonny Tuffey at any point in the first half and were probably lucky not to be down to 10 men after Brown’s shocking tackle on Simon Donnolly saw referee Brian Winter only show a yellow card. Then, a soft free kick awarded to Thistle saw McLaren pick up a booking for his protests. Despite their huge possession advantage, the home team struggled to create any further clear-cut chances. Stephen McKeown fired wide of the post from 20 yards and Kinniburgh’s long range effort was comfortably stopped by David Hutton.

Half-time brought a brief moment of relief to the away supporters but any hope of an improved second half display appeared to fade as Thistle remained on top but once more failed to test Hutton as Harkins fired well over the bar. However, in the 54^th minute, Clyde were gifted a glorious chance to net an undeserved equaliser as Kinniburgh’s poor pass-back was seized upon by McLaren, only for the returning winger to flick his effort too close to Tuffey, who made an excellent block with his foot.

Harkins then tried his luck from distance before both sides made substitutions; Donnolly being replaced by Gray for Thistle and Trouten and McKay coming on for Wilson and Gemmill. This introduction of pace and skill gave Clyde an injection of attacking intent and McKay should have levelled after being played in behind Kevin McKinley, only for the wide man to horribly scuff his shot past the post. Then, after MacLennan was tripped on the edge of the box, McLaren saw his free kick go two yards past the post with Tuffey well beaten. McKeown then picked up his side’s first card after a clever tackle stopped Kettlewell’s powerful burst through the middle of the pitch.

However, as Thistle perhaps began to regret not creating more chances earlier in the game, they managed to net a second goal and tie up the three points. An effort on the edge of the box was well blocked by Gibson, however, the loose ball was powerfully fired into the bottom corner by McKeown.

Gary McSwegan immediately replaced McLaren and was involved in a neat move that saw Trouten burst into the box, only for his heavy touch to knock the ball into Tuffey’s path. Waddell and David Rowson then traded wild strikes before the referee ended a fairly comfortable game for the home team.

After the early goal, Clyde were always going to struggle but once more, the Bully Wee had enough good chances to perhaps get an undeserved point from a game only for poor finishing to prove costly. Ultimately, the formation that started the game didn’t work and once Thistle had control, they didn’t look like losing the game.