Working Through the Break
The upcoming Scotland double-header against Lithuania and Liechtenstein means, of course, that the Bully Wee have no match this weekend but it hasn’t led to a complete break from action for the squad.
The coaching staff were quick to organise two friendly matches to fill the gap. First up was a closed door meeting with Dumbarton at Broadwood this evening and it resulted in a pleasing 2-0 win for Clyde.
After a goalless first half, the Bully Wee managed to find the net twice after the break. The first came from a former player returning to the club on trial, as Ricky Waddell pounced on a goalkeeping mistake to nod the ball into the net. Soon afterwards, Willie Sawyers scored from close range after good work from Iain Gray and John Sweeney.
At the other end, Jordan Allan pulled off a fine save from a Sons penalty but Clyde could have increased the lead as John Stewart hit the bar and Sweeney missed a great chance inside the box.
CLYDE: Allan, Girvan, Henderson, McMillan, Lithgow, Trialist, Cochrane, Trialist, Sawyers, Trialist, Stewart. SUBS USED: Stevenson, Gray, Finlayson, Sweeney, Mills, McGowan, Strachan, Dingwall.
Stuart Millar spoke to the official website after the match and started by commenting on the situation regarding Ricky Waddell and the two other trialists that featured; Kenny Connolly and Marco Andreoni. Ex-Ayr United man Connolly played in the defeat to Albion Rovers and Andreoni is a former Dundee United youngster.
“We have made Ricky Waddell an offer to join the club for a second spell,” Stuart confirmed. “We feel that he would bring something to the club again, primarily on the left side of the pitch but he is versatile in many positions. His experience can also help the young players we have.
“Unfortunately we have decided that Kenny and Marco are not for us, however, and we wish them well in the future. They’ve been training with us for the last few weeks and they are both excellent guys. I sincerely hope they get something fixed up.
“As for the match, it was a terrific workout and a good chance for guys that haven’t been playing regularly in recent weeks to get a game. We were able to try out some different formations and systems so all in all it was a very worthwhile exercise. The victory was nice but we don’t read too much into that.
“On the downside, it looks as though Haydn Cochrane has had a recurrence of his hamstring problem. Iain Gray and Jordan Allan also picked up minor knocks but we don’t think either is too serious thankfully.”
Monday night sees another closed door match and a very testing one against Motherwell. Stuart continued:-
“Craig Brown is keen to give some of his fringe players a game so it will be a hard test for us. It also means we will have had a match on either side of the weekend which should help us as we look forward to the East Stirling match.”