Ross County v Clyde

Recap

Well, after the improvement shown against St. Mirren last week Clyde returned to what has pretty much been business as usual against Ross County, starting brightly with several decent moves and a few tame shots at goal from Keogh and then from Mitchell before Bingham struck the bar from 25 yards out. However that was really all the Clyde support who had made the long journey north had to shout about as Ross County began to take control and in 20 minutes they took the lead with a tamely defended goal. A lovely ball in from midfield was brought down by Gethins who rounded Halliwell and tapped the ball into an empty net. After that the heads went down quickly and all too readily conceded defeat. Two goals conceded around the half hour mark and both were very soft. Second goal did look offside as a clearance struck a County player and bounced to Gethins, who was left with a simple tap in and 2 minutes later it was officially all over as a contest as Hislop scored in a goal mouth scramble. Referee Freeland then took over and started throwing around yellow cards as though they were going out of fashion. Firstly, new signing, Mensing found his way into the ref’s book for a rather clumsy challenge on a county player, then Keogh as his frustration boiled over for a foolish challenge on County keeper Bullock.

Into the second half and again Clyde failed to find any fight with only Mitchell and Bingham showing anything remotely approaching form. Jamie tried hard and a couple of runs came to an end as County players committed a couple of sneaky fouls that went unpunished. Then the rout started again as County scored a fourth goal. Suspicions of offside as their number 10 broke free down the right to send in a cross and as the Clyde defence were again posted missing Ferguson nodded the ball into the net past Halliwell.

After the goal Murray went off to rousing applause from the Clyde fans in appreciation of his service for the last 3 and a bit seasons, but it really was the only chance we had to applaud all day as eventually the game came to an end. County had the ball in the net another 4 times but all were quite rightly ruled off for some infringement or other as the 4-0 scoreline failed to show how outclassed Clyde really were. Mr. Freeland conspired to book another 3 bully wee favorites with Murray, Millen and Dunn all shown yellow cards which were scarcely deserved.

Any more performances like this and relegation, even this early in the season, will be a real possibility so yet again, Maitland has the task of trying to lift players and fans alike for next weeks home game against Falkirk.