Clyde 1 Saints 2
Team: Main, Murray, Forsyth, McCluskey, Weir, Trialist
who looked like Cartman, Trialist who looked like Rachid, Marco, Kiegan,
Jackson, Kane
Subs Frail, JR, Trialist, Lauchlan, Fotheringham, Conway,
Cuthbert, Ferry, Panther
Well we won at least and with the 2nd half played mostly with last season's U-21 side it was a good performance overall with all 9 subs getting a run out. The big surprise was the no 6 shirt with Alan Kernaghan back to his old screaming self. Rachid came into the side as well whilst Monsieur Frank was left on the bench (and to be Frank (geddit?) he doesn't look good enough for the SPL).
The game started lively enough with Saints adopting a 3-5-2 formation with Murray and Flash as wingbacks whilst Kane, Marco and Rachid tried to run the centre of the park and support Kiegan and Wacko Jacko up front. Unfortunately it all went a bit pear-shaped after 10 minutes. Clyde were pressing Saints and closing us down well and when Marco was dispossessed on the edge of the box the ball was sent through into the area. Weir and Kernaghan were too slow to react allowing a Clyde striker to nip in and slot the ball home.
We fought back and Wacko Jacko (God but it's a struggle not to say Dive-Dive) broke through in 16 minutes 1 on 1 with the keeper. Unfortunately one of the defenders made an excellent last-ditch tackle to win the ball back despite Wacko's claims for a penalty (old habits die hard eh?). Still he looked fairly sharp and hungry for the ball with some good moves and support for Kiegan. Oh yes and he still winds up the opposition (more on that later).
Saints were pressing back. Cap'n Jim saw his header go over from a corner and then on 20 minutes Kiegan had a great run through half a dozen Clyde defenders only for his 20yd volley to clip the top of the bar with the keeper beaten. We didn't have long to wait though and a minute later Rachid went on a run up the right. His heels were clipped on the edge of the box (although he managed to run a bit more before doing a spectacular dive with double twist in the area) and from the resultant free-kick Kane crossed the ball into the 6-yd box and Murray headed home.
The game was livening up by now. Main had to be at his best to make a couple of cracking saves whilst the tackles started to go in a bit more - both Wacko and Deirdre were warned for some late challenges, whilst the half-hour mark saw Kiegan pick up a yellow card for a nasty late tackle. There was plenty of action as well - Main missed a shot at a corner and Kane blocked the ball on the line whilst Kiegan had a couple of good runs into the Clyde box but was a tad too selfish on the ball.
Second-half saw the first lot of subs with Panther, Monsieur Frank and JR coming on for Cartman, Wacko and Kane. JR moved up front and Panther to the right-wing whilst Murray took over in the centre of defence. Finally Cuthbert came on for Main. The game was fairly even with Monsieur Frank looking more or less average - some good runs but not quite the ability we'd hoped for. But both Cuthbert and the Panther have built themselves up over the summer. Cuthbert looked very confident in the box and commanded his area well whilst Panther on the right wing is almost Twaddleesque in his runs.
With the game getting scrappy and JR being held back constantly we had the first real humour with JR being slagged off by the home fans with cries of "Yer still shite Jackson" - which was a cue for him to be renamed Darren by the Saints fans for the rest of the game. Rachid left to some applause on the hour mark to be replaced by Fotheringham. It was hard to judge how good he is on the night. Some good runs and excellent close control were let down by some poor passing and a too defensive style of play. McCluskey was next to leave the park with Mark Ferry coming on to replace him.
The 68th minute saw us almost take the lead when a long Cuthbert clearance fell to Kiegan in the Clyde box. Unfortunately he took too long over his shot and the keeper blocked it. Chris Conway came on for Weir and Frail came on for Murray next whilst Clyde almost took the lead when they hit the post. But with 13 minutes left some good play on the right saw Panther win a free kick just inside the Clyde half. Fotheringham took it and sent a long ball into the box. It fell at JR's feet and one twist later and a low drive beat the keeper to make it 2-1. It should have been 3 a minute later but Monsieur Frank missed a sitter after JR set him up with a neat short pass in the box. Kiegan was replaced by Lauchlan.
The last 10 minutes saw the ref take the homers rule to the limit with some classing offside decisions. The worst saw Clyde break 3 minutes from time into the Saints half. Three players tore into the box and with only Cuthbert to beat, the Clyde striker got greedy, took too long to round the keeper and saw his eventual shot cleared by Conway.
That was it really - it was basically a youth side that finished the game, with only Marco and Flash playing the full 90 minutes. Rachid looked OK but the trialist looked poor. On the plus side though Jackson looks like he could be a good buy and both Panther and Cuthbert should make an impression in the coming season.
And if anyone's still feeling depressed remember this time last year we only drew with Clyde !!!
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