Edinburgh City 0-5 Clyde
The Bully Wee got their 2024-25 campaign off to a flying start with an emphatic victory over Edinburgh City at Meadowbank this evening in the Premier Sports Cup.
Ian McCall handed starting debuts to Jordan Houston, Paul McKay, Tommy Robson, Darren Lyon, Marley Redfern and Kyle Connell, whilst Lee Connelly also made his bow as a second half sub.
The hosts had first effort of the night through ex Clyde-forward Connor Young but Brian Kinnear was equal to it, whilst at the other end Ray Grant sent a rasping drive wide.
Young had another shot on target from a powerful free-kick which Kinnear did well to parry with the low sun in his eyes, before a follow up effort was sliced wide.
Clyde opened the scoring midway through the first half with Kyle Connell breaking the deadlock. A ball into the box wasn’t dealt with and Redfern poked it back for the striker on the edge of the box, with his shot deflecting off a defender and past Mark Weir.
Connell was desperately unlucky not to double his tally with a sublime dipping shot from over 30 yards out which struck the crossbar.
Barry Cuddihy got on the end of a corner at the back post and hit his shot into the ground before the ball bounced just over the bar.
The Bully Wee were than awarded a penalty at the end of the first-half after a handball. Connell stepped up but Weir dived to his left to keep the spot kick out.
Cuddihy again came close from a corner, seeing his initial header saved by Weir before an acrobatic follow up effort was deflected over.
Clyde did double their advantage from a similar position ten minutes after the restart though when Connell’s corner was glanced home at the front post by Martin Rennie.
Marley Redfern added a third three minutes after Rennie’s goal. Cuddihy picked out the winger with a defence splitting through ball from inside his own half which Redfern latched on to, and cut inside before sending a shot, which took a slight deflection, over the head of Weir.
Logan Dunachie entered the fray as a centre-forward again and made a big impact in the closing stages of the game. His square ball across the box found Liam Scullion just yards out but he slipped whilst pulling the trigger, and shortly after he found Lee Connelly in a similar position who also lost his footing and Rennie was unable to control, allowing Weir to smother the ball.
A fourth goal came in the 75th minute when Rennie robbed an opponent of possession before cutting into the box and hitting a shot. It was blocked but the ball was nodded on by Dunachie into the path of Connelly, who rifled a volley into the top corner of the net.
Dunachie got on the scoresheet himself two minutes later, when the Edinburgh defence allowed Robson’s high clearance to bounce through, and the new-found forward looped a header over the onrushing Weir from the edge of the box.
Picture by Craig Black