Clyde 6-1 Peterhead
Clyde ended the William Hill League Two campaign in style as they dismantled champions Peterhead at New Douglas Park this afternoon.
Darren Young opted to retain the starting lineup that won at Stirling Albion last weekend, with the Scullion brothers both returning to fitness on the bench.
After a subdued start, The Bully Wee opened the scoring in the ninth minute. Jamie Bradley floated in a corner to the back post which landed at Marley Redfern. His first attempt was saved by Blessing Oluyemi, but he was able to poke the rebound home.
Kyle Connell then knocked the ball through to Darren Hynes inside the box, but his attempt was cleared as Clyde continued to dominate in the early stages.
In the 27th minute, an unmarked Bradley tried his luck with a curling shot from the outskirts of the box, but it flew narrowly over the bar as the visitors continued to struggle to deal with Clyde’s advances into their half.
Clyde doubled their advantage on the half hour mark courtesy of Hynes who caught the end of Bradley’s crossfield ball from outside the box to unleash a volley which looped into the bottom left corner.
However, The Blue Toon immediately responded by pulling a goal back. Oliver Colloty cottoned onto Rory McAllister’s long ball from the halfway line to race into the box and slot the ball beyond Robbie Hemfrey.
The champions began to carry more of a threat, but composure on the ball eluded them with McAllister trying his luck from deep inside the box, but he was unable to keep his shot from a tight angle under the bar.
Clyde went agonisingly close to regaining their two-goal lead when Taylor Sutherland sent a powerful shot which sliced through the box, only to be saved by the ‘keeper, and Connell saw the rebound turned behind on the line.
A third goal however came from the resulting corner as the first half entered stoppage time. Bradley provided the assist again, as Dunachie headed home his corner from close range.
The Bully Wee picked up where they left off with a fourth goal two minutes after the restart. A superb flowing team move culminated when Redfern slotted the ball to Bradley, who cut inside, dodged past two defenders and fired a powerful shot into the corner beyond Oluyemi.
In the 70th minute, Hynes caught the ball on the break and sprinted up the park having spotted Oluyemi off his line, but his effort was wide.
With ten minutes of the match remaining, Peterhead spurned a rare opportunity when Dunne passed the ball to Ross on the edge of the box, but his effort was calmly collected by Hemfrey.
At the other end, Clyde added their fifth goal of the afternoon in the 83rd minute after Redfern drove past defenders the into the box and squared across goal for the onrushing Robbie Leitch to fire it into the net.
A brilliant afternoon for The Bully Wee was capped off in injury time when Dom Docherty played a trickling pass into Sutherland. The striker swung for the ball but made no contact, though it was enough to deceive Oluyemi as crept into the net.
The win was Clyde’s biggest at home since since September 2019.
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Picture by Craig Black