St.Johnstone 1 V 2 Broadwood Clyde
Broadwood kicked off the season with a tricky away tie to one of last seasons silverware winners. St. Johnstone over recent seasons, have forged a reputation as a very good cup team. Broadwood though have never worried about reputations and soon started to dominate the match from midfield. Foley and Andrews were combining well down the left hand side and hen they found Horne his cross was met by McGee in the air but it flew wide. Reilly was really up for this game and he stamped his authority on the midfield early on with some mazy runs and fierce challenges. This allowed Hawkes and Horne to deliver some dangerous crosses and through balls, but none were converted. Broadwood suffered a few scary moments at the back with True and Foley taking time to settle in but they soon had the measure of their opponents and even had time to join the attack. Horne latched on to a McMahon pass to burst through the middle and leave him one on one with the keeper but his shot was saved and the ball went for a corner. Reilly was again in the thick of it receiving a nasty head knock in midfield, both players involved requiring treatment, but last years “Superstar” wasn’t down for long and showed great bravery moments later to put Broadwood into the lead from a Kimmett set-piece.
The second half started too early for Saints, as straight from the kick-off, that man Reilly jinked his way past four players before curling a lovely shot into the net for his and Broadwoods second. Broadwood looked confident after that and pushed forward. Saints weren’t finished though and with Broadwood pushing up, St Johnstone broke through and pulled one back. The tiring McMahon was replaced by D.Wandrum and Broadwood changed things about with Andrews going up front. S.Wandum broke from defence and played an excellent diagonal ball for McGee to chase, he then threaded the ball through for Horne on the run but the midfielder couldn’t direct his shot. S.Wandrum again pushed forward and goalwards on the right, with three Broadwood players in goalscoring positions the burly Moose chose to shoot from the angle and it was well saved. McGee made way for Aitken and Broadwood changed things again. Hawkes found the going better in the second half and delivered some dangerous balls for the strikers but it just wouldn’t sit for them. St Johnstone as expected threw everything forward at Broadwood in the last quarter of the match. Some great tackling by Aitken, True and a match winning tackle by D.Wandrum kept the marauding Saints at bay. C.Wandrum then twisted his knee bravely organising his defence and so he limped off to be replaced by new boy Nesbit. This changed the complexion of the game again and new keeper D.Wandrum didn’t get tested for the remainder of the game. Nesbit enjoyed his debut, showing some nice flicks and passing and he was unlucky with a long range shot right at the death.
The gaffer said after the match “The young lad True has a great future in this game if he works hard.”
Broadwood: – C.Wandrum, True, Kimmett