St Johnstone V Clyde

Saturday 5th August, heralds the start of the new 2006/2007 season which will kick-off with the Bully Wee travelling to Perth to play St.Johnstone. Since St.Johnstone were relegated from the SPL in 2002, the head to head record is virtually even though recently the Perth Saints have held the upper hand.

In the sixteen league matches since 2002 between these two sides Clyde have won six, drawn three and lost seven. That shows how close these two sides are when competing against each other. At Broadwood, Clyde have won 3 of 8 matches and have an identical record in Perth.

The other SFL Division 1 Fixtures at the weekend are:

Airdrie United v Ross County
Dundee v Partick Thistle
Gretna v Hamilton
Livingston v QoS

Clyde will be desperate to start this season off with a confident performance and all Bully Wee fans would settle for a similar outcome to this week’s “game to remember”:

St Johnstone 1 v 3 Clyde – 20/03/2004

Out of all the games between these two sides, Clyde’s 3-1 victory at St.Johnstone was the match that really stuck out for me. Clyde had just lost 3-2 at Broadwood to the Saints’ two weeks previously and badly needed to bounce back as the Bully Wee were chasing the Division One title and promotion to the SPL with Inverness CT breathing down there necks.

Clyde started the much better side and were attacking so much that they were rewarded after 10 minutes through Stevie McConalogue. McConalogue was lurking at the back post while a corner was whipped in and he fired in a close-range volley. Clyde needed a great start and got it.

Clyde continued to press knowing that a one goal lead is never usually enough and they got their reward twenty minutes later, the Bully Wee doubled their lead through Andy Smith. It was due in no small measure to the work of Ian Harty who started the whole move of but at the end decided to lay-off to the big striker.

With twenty minutes to go, Clyde got their third goal thanks to Ian Harty. Harty went through on goal and with only the keeper to beat he made sure that all three points and a precious victory went back to Broadwood.

In injury-time, Saints’ pulled one back but it was Clyde’s day. The only down-point for the Bully Wee was that Bryn Halliwell (pictured right), who will now be facing the Bully Wee on Saturday, was taken off through injury after a superb full-stretch save.

For the statisticians