St. Mirren v Clyde

Recap

A disastrous start and generally poor defending left Clyde licking their wounds at Love St. Yet, Clyde ran the show for 20 minutes either side of half time and a draw looked definitely possible until St Mirren scored the killer 3rd goal. This game also saw Budinaukas make his league debut, but sadly he didn’t last the whole game and his long term fitness remains a big doubt.

There was barely time to warm your seat before St Mirren opened the scoring. The Clyde defence were caught cold and Yardley was easily played in to clip the ball over Budd. This rattled Clyde and Jose Quitongo in particular was running riot. A few minutes later Clyde were carved open again. A cut back evaded Budd and at least 3 defenders only to find Yardley at the back post unmarked to slot home the second goal. A great indicator of how badly Clyde were playing was shown by the diminutive Quitongo beating Darren Murray in the air.

Clyde weathered the storm and began to get into the game although the passing was tense and rushed. Clyde had plenty of possession but it was all breaking down in front of goal. Convery was put in but crashed the ball off the keeper and a few other shots could only be described as tame. Clyde were forcing corners, but the physical presence we once boasted is missing at the moment. Then just before half time a great pass saw Crawford with a sight of goal and he crashed the ball into the roof of the net.

Clyde came out with all guns blazing after the break and penned St Mirren in their own half. For all the dominance there was little to really trouble Roy in the St Mirren goal. St Mirren were starting to creak but then they snatched the decisive 3rd goal. Budinaukas sadly limped off to be replaced by Halliwell and he hardly had time to settle before the ball was in the net. St Mirren won a corner and Kerr rose above everybody to head powerfully home. This knocked the wind out of Clyde and St Mirren relaxed and began to spray the ball about and create chances. The 4th goal was very similar to the 3rd. A cross was met at the far post by Walker to head powerfully home. In the end Clyde were content to get the game over without further embarrassment.

For Clyde this game can be summed up as: great attitude – fatal flaws. At 2-0 down so quickly others teams would have completely folded but Clyde showed a lot of character to make a game of it. Poor defending cost Clyde dearly and all Clyde fans will hope that the injury to Budinaukas is not a repeat of his knee problem.