Match Preview
Billy Reid’s injury worries have sadly not eased as the week has progressed. Eddie Malone is suspended and Scott Wilson is definitely out with a hamstring injury. Billy commented: “It is just not worth the risk of playing Scott. If he aggravated his hamstring he would have been out for over a month”.
Billy was pleased to see Gary Arbuckle return to training today but unfortunately the young forward was still feeling a reaction to his pelvic injury and will miss out. “It is a blow to make changes especially to the defence as we had been looking quite solid”.
Tomorrow’s squad will be boosted by Stuart Balmer, Kevin Bradley and John Paul McKeever (pictured). “John is 16 years old so it shows you how young some of the first team squad are but I’m not downhearted and we’ll go into this match determined to win”.
Preparations have not been ideal for the clash with heavy overnight rain flooding Clyde’s usual training pitches. At the last minute Clyde had to settle to train today at Cumbernauld United’s artificial surface. Billy was keen that the weather relented for Saturday. “Hopefully it will be better for tomorrow as we all know the game can be a lottery at Broadwood if the wind is strong”.
Billy added: “Queens are a good side who we have had some attractive matches against but we need to just concentrate on ourselves and go out, take the game to Queens and win it. We will soon face two away matches so home points are vital”.
Despite re-signing former Thistle striker Derek “tan man” Lyle (pictured right) from Dunfermline this week, Queen of the South have been faced with problems. The Doonhamers have been hit by a flu bug and manager Iain Scott spoke to the Queen’s website. “It’s quite worrying, four or five of the players and myself have been suffering and it’s most unpleasant. To make matters worse it doesn’t appear to be a 24 hour thing. Eric Paton had to leave the pitch on Saturday because of it and he’s still feeling the effects”.
Scott continued: “Providing sickness allows, we’ll have new faces in from the start on Saturday. I was not happy with the performance at Ross County, we were flat and lethargic which just isn’t good enough. Paul Burns is fit again and should play, but it’s ‘wait and see’ with our flu victims. David Craig is still out. Although his hamstring problem has cleared up he has a trapped nerve in his leg and is to receive a course of acupuncture”.
The Dumfries side have also found training difficult. “It’s been a nightmare”, stated Scott. “It was too wet to use Palmerston for training this week so we had to restrict it to indoor work at the gym, but gladly on Wednesday we managed to get some of the lads through to train during the day.
Scott was pragmatic about Saturday. “The Clyde game will be another tough one, but as I’ve said before, they’re all hard in this league. It’s never easy at Broadwood but I’ll be looking for a much livelier performance than we gave at Dingwall”.
Scott, who has stewarded Queen of the South ever since John Connelly left for St Johnstone last April, remains confident despite his team’s problems. Queen’s have only been beaten once on their travels so he has every right to be bold.
Though preparations for both clubs have been traumatic, that will be forgotten about as soon as the first whistle blows. It is sure to be a highly competitive game. Other matches in the First are: Hamilton v St Mirren; Partick Thistle v Ross County; Airdrie United v Falkirk and Raith Rovers v St Johnstone.
Make sure you don’t miss this attractive game as Clyde seek to gain an outright lead in the division. Be sure to make your match day predictions on the message boards.