Clyde 1 V 5 Manchester United

Manchester United ran out worthy winners of the first Optical Express Challenge Cup match. To the delight of everyone connected with Clyde Football Club, Sir Alex Ferguson was as good as his word as the near sell out crowd were able to witness all of United’s top stars.

Despite the scoreline, Clyde have nothing to be ashamed about with another pre-season performance full of promise. In the first half Clyde matched their opponents with Gary Arbuckle and Neil McGregor (pictured bottom right) spurning chances.

Manchester United took the lead in the 31st minute when Kleberson pounced on a rebound after Louis Saha’s shot had been well saved by Clyde keeper Peter Cherrie (pictured left) who impressed throughout.

Manchester United completely re-hashed their second half line-up and doubled their lead in just three minutes. The move involved the Reds’ biggest-names as Ryan Giggs found Ruud van Nistelrooy, who was challenged in the area, but the ball ran to Paul Scholes who made no mistake with a low angled shot.

Clyde refused to lie down and were almost gifted a goal in the 50th minute when Mikael Silvestre’s poor back-pass very nearly let in centre forward Gary Arbuckle, but the combined efforts of Tim Howard and John O’Shea recovered the situation.

Cherrie continued to deny Van Nistelrooy as United tried to increase their lead but the Dutchman got his revenge as he got United’s third goal from the penalty spot in the 58th minute.

Clyde finally got a reward for their efforts in the 77th minute when a Masterton corner was struck home by Neil McGregor after a “stramash” in the box! Less than a minute later Liam Miller restored the three-goal margin and Van Nistelroy, after taking a short pass from Van Nistelrooy, made it 5-1 in the closing moments of the game.

Nobody likes to lose but there were a lot of positives today. A near sell-out crowd at Broadwood, the opportunity of being able to witness some of the world’s top players and experience again a young Clyde side playing football in a good style that has given the supporters’ renewed optimism for the season ahead.

CLYDE: Cherrie; McGregor, Malone, Higgins, McKeown, McHale, Bryson, O’Donnell, Arbuckle, Hunter, Bouadji
Substitutes: Bradley, McGowan, Dick, Hilland, Masterton, Brawley, Hutchinson, Miller. Stirling.

MANCHESTER UNITED (First half): Van der Sar; McShane, Richardson, Pique, Ferdinand, Fletcher, Jones, Kleberson, Rossi, Saha, Park.

MANCHESTER UNITED (Second half): Howard; Bardsley, Eckersley, Smith, O’Shea, Silvestre, Miller, Rooney, Scholes, van Nistelrooy, Giggs.