Reid And Smith Talk About The County Match
Billy Reid gave his post-match thoughts to the website’s Cammy Macdonald.
“We knew it was going to be difficult and we have played three up front and tried to attack them. With a bit of luck we could well have come in one-nil up at half time but I felt over the peace we deserved the win.
“The players were absolutely fantastic today. Their attitude and commitment was great and they had a tremendous hunger for the game and I really can’t speak any higher of them. They have been great for me since I came into the job and long may it continue.
“John Potter was magnificent for me today again. I made him captain of the Club and he is still not 100% fit yet, but when he is he will be a big player for the Club. He is an excellent defender and will play a big part this season.
“Karim is here for a month and obviously other clubs will come and watch him but hopefully over the month he will do a job for us. I am friendly with his agent, who owed me a couple of favours and he certainly gave me a big one today. We are giving the player a chance to put himself in the shop window and we will use that to our advantage as well.
“We have five or six players who have served us well the last couple of seasons and helped the club achieve what it did and it was up to me to bring in players to work with them. So far I am fairly happy with the players we have brought in.
“The squad may be a little short, but I don’t have a budget to bring in others so will have to work with what I have. We are hoping to get as many points on the board as possible and see where we go from there.
“Aron was outstanding in the second half in particular. For a big lad he has a great touch and when we get him fully fit he will be a big asset to us. I was delighted he scored his first goal for the Club today.
“Craig Bryson, at only seventeen, is a tremendous talent. He covers every blade of grass on the ground and both these players are prospects for the future. But it wasn’t about individuals but about a fine team performance and I thought we got that today.
“I looked around Scotland to fine a player like Darren Sheridan and found it difficult and there weren’t many tall strikers like Aron Wilford around in Scotland either so I looked elsewhere. I took my time to bring them in, as time was running on, but I feel as though I have chosen wisely.
“There are still one or two players I would like to bring in but I may have to do a bit of wheeling and dealing but it’s too early to speak about that at the moment.
ALEX SMITH’S VIEW:
“It was a game where the first goal was always going to win. It was a good game of football and I thought both teams played well. I thought we played a lot of good football and didn’t think either keeper had much to do in terms of shots but that’s maybe down to strong defences not allowing too many chances.
“It was disappointing to lose the way we did as their player was out on the bye-line and from that position you should never get in to create a goal. So I feel that was bad play on our part and obviously from Clyde’s part they will look at it the opposite way.
“We had chances from a few players particularly McSwegan hitting the bar though they had a chance that hit the bar as well. Then in the second half, Robertson and Rankin had good chances too but we couldn’t really get one on target.
“There are going to be a lot of tight games like this in the league this season and at the end of the day it’s going to be if you can get a wee break in the game that could make the difference. I was actually just getting ready to make a substitution when they scored.
“Maybe we play in too much an adventurous way and that may be something we need to look at. We like to play football, we like to get forward and we don’t try to stifle people. We may need to start doing that. We had more of the ball than Clyde today and possibly had more attacks than them, but they kept getting in behind us with the wee boy.
“You are always upset when you lose and you need to make sure your players know when you are upset.