Clyde vs Cove

[SLClyde]

I had us to lose to Alloa and Cove on coupons, will need to do it for every game. 

[DGW9]

Keep investing lads we'll be champions by Easter

[haufdaft]

I enjoyed that

[CoveRangers1922]

4 minutes ago, haufdaft said:

I enjoyed that

Yep good 3 points, bit nervy near the end I suspect but it's another win and jump up the table 

[BullyWeeStonehouse]

20 minutes ago, CoveRangers1922 said:

Yep good 3 points, bit nervy near the end I suspect but it's another win and jump up the table 

Are you the only Cove fan that uses p&b, by the way?!

[CM.]

Good result and for the first time this season a passable performance to match. Certainly our chances were enhanced with the players Cove had missing. The left back (Russell Andersons son I believe) was honking and while the right back wasn't too bad it was clear they missed Logan there. 

Good move going with the back 3 with the danger of McAllister and Megginson and typically it'll probably be binned for the next game now with Elsdon and potentially Rumsby missing. Midfield seemed to have a bit of balance for the first time too even if I'm still unsure about Gomis in the role he was in. Can't fault Nicolls performance in the sitting role though. Much better from Cunningham too and you can see the benefits playing him close to Goodwillie. Bradley-Hurst done his chances no harm either but needs to start deciding whether to come or stay for crosses as I noticed him starting to come before backpedaling a couple of times. 

Didn't notice at the time but apparently McAllister was offside in the lead up to Elsdons red card. Whether he was or wasn't, Elsdon done absolutely the right thing for the team and should be applauded for it. Will be a massive loss at Peterhead though.

[CoveRangers1922]

8 minutes ago, BullyWeeStonehouse said:

Are you the only Cove fan that uses p&b, by the way?!

Yeah only regular and it's disappointing tbh. Unsure why other Cove fans aren't on here. 

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, CoveRangers1922 said:

Yeah only regular and it's disappointing tbh. Unsure why other Cove fans aren't on here. 

You'd a far better support than I thought you'd have today. Good assest to the league. 

[haufdaft]

Didn't notice at the time but apparently McAllister was offside in the lead up to Elsdons red card.

My initial impression was that McAllister was offside.

[CoveRangers1922]

17 minutes ago, C. Muir said:

Good result and for the first time this season a passable performance to match. Certainly our chances were enhanced with the players Cove had missing. The left back (Russell Andersons son I believe) was honking and while the right back wasn't too bad it was clear they missed Logan there. 

Good move going with the back 3 with the danger of McAllister and Megginson and typically it'll probably be binned for the next game now with Elsdon and potentially Rumsby missing. Midfield seemed to have a bit of balance for the first time too even if I'm still unsure about Gomis in the role he was in. Can't fault Nicolls performance in the sitting role though. Much better from Cunningham too and you can see the benefits playing him close to Goodwillie. Bradley-Hurst done his chances no harm either but needs to start deciding whether to come or stay for crosses as I noticed him starting to come before backpedaling a couple of times. 

Didn't notice at the time but apparently McAllister was offside in the lead up to Elsdons red card. Whether he was or wasn't, Elsdon done absolutely the right thing for the team and should be applauded for it. Will be a massive loss at Peterhead though.

Jevan was honking, he's a young inexperienced CB who probably has never played LB in his puff and it showed.  should have buried the header in the first couple of minutes.

Harry Milne was severely missed. Harry is a stellar LWB who is equally good defending and attacking 

Edited August 28, 2021 by CoveRangers1922

[Brian Carrigan]

8 minutes ago, haufdaft said:

 

 

My initial impression was that McAllister was offside.
 

 

100% from my view too. 

[Brian Carrigan]

Anyone recognise our CM trialist? There’s another laddie been warming up too recently but not stripped. Quite a laugh seeing whoever our current GK coach is sitting on the bench with no. 1 on his shorts too.

[CM.]

3 minutes ago, Brian Carrigan said:

Anyone recognise our CM trialist? 

He looked annoyingly familiar but I just can't put a name to him. 

[TamClyde]

Job Done. Players were right up for it today and it worked. Great to be back celebrating at broadwood for a change! 

 

ps. Get it up ye Paul Hartley

[Clydeside]

That was a very pleasing performance from our point of view. We kept to the principles of the Falkirk approach in prioritising defence over attack and in being set-up to counterattack. However, we made some changes to the system and to the shape used at Falkirk. Some enforced. Some by choice. And while Cove just about managed to jam a square peg into a round hole in the end, you'd have to say that our change to a back three was vindicated. Particularly insofar as it allowed us to frustrate the very good interplaying forwards and midfielders that Cove have. It was horses for courses in that sense. Also, while it lasted, having someone playing closer to Goodie certainly made us more menacing on the counter. Although Cove's sluggish and easily flustered defence played a part in that too. As did the conditions.

I could add that the use of wing-backs and the configuration of the midfield three were improvements insofar as they got us up the park quite well at times. They also gave good protection to the backline. Nicoll was particularly useful in that respect. Although he was managed into position a fair few times and tired as things went on. Kennedy done a lot better in the middle where he belongs and steadily grew into the game. He used the ball very well and showed some aggression in his play which has been hirtherto unseen. That bodes well. And Gomis done a decent enough job as the most advanced of the three. Having him further up loses you a player who'll reliably win back possession but also gets rid of the risk that he'll overplay in a bad area and thereby undo the good defending that the team has done.

I know some will pile onto Rumsby for giving away another penalty. However, any defence set-up as ours was and which has to defend for the prolonged periods which ours did operates at an unusually high risk of conceding penalties. For that reason I wouldn't be too critical of him. He was at the limits of his ability in dealing with the players Cove have. And frankly I could see Balatoni or Elsden doing exactly the same thing. Indeed, Elsden was lucky not to concede a penalty by hugging a Cove player to the ground in the first half. Of course he became the hero of the afternoon didn't he? It's an ominous thing to lose a central defender at the time we did. Particularly when the next action could be a quickly taken dead-ball. For some eighty-odd minutes you've got three guys coordinating with one another quite well. Then all of a sudden they've another man to induct into the set-up. It was a perfect storm scenario. And Elsden weathered it perfectly.

We'll go to Peterhead a much weaker side without him. And his absence will make a performance in the style of today's hard to replicate. Although that would be true in any case. Everyone must've noticed how we fell out of the game in the last twenty-five minutes or so. Goodwillie tired badly. As did Nicoll. And Cunningham sunk into midfield, ending up just as unable to link with Goodwillie as he was at Falkirk.

Elsden would be my MOTM today for some superb defending. Nicoll just as good. And a decent performance from the goalie too albeit not without a nervy moment or two. And David Goodwillie's contribution shouldn't be forgotten. While you might say that he only exploited some very poor errors, he was still the single minded and clinical player we saw against Alloa. That was what we needed for three points today.

Thinking about the season as a whole, we won't be able to soak up the pressure we did against Cove in the latter parts of today's game or the pressure that we did against Falkirk without conceding goals. In other words, we can't set out to play like we did today every single week. There's still a big question hung over how we beat the teams we're closer to in quality terms: Peterhead, East Fife, Dumbarton, Airdrie. We don't have it in us to menace teams for ninety minutes. We're suited to counterattack because of Goodie's condition. And we're setting-up around our weaknesses. I think we still need another two or three players. One of which must be a centre back in Elsden's mould. But ideally he'd be a little more sprightly. We probably need another (fit!) forward and midfielder as well.

As for Cove, I think they will be a different proposition when their injured players return. They need to do something about their defence. There are some good individuals in there for sure. But they're as bad as our lads at knocking it around. Difference is, they're being asked to play high up the park and in a four without a lot of midfield protection. You're asking for it a bit there I think. But then again, you've got as good a selection of creative midfielders and forwards as anyone in the league so if you're going to score a load each week then perhaps it's a moot point.

Edited August 28, 2021 by Clydeside
Typo

[Jaggy Snake]

1 hour ago, C. Muir said:

Didn't notice at the time but apparently McAllister was offside in the lead up to Elsdons red card. Whether he was or wasn't, Elsdon done absolutely the right thing for the team and should be applauded for it. Will be a massive loss at Peterhead though.

If a player is in an offside position but is fouled before they play the ball the freekick is still given for the foul, not the offside. It seems a little counter-intuitive but I suppose it's needed to prevent defenders being able to leather strikers when they're offside and get away with it.

Although I suppose you could argue the red card was harsh as how can it be a goal scoring opportunity if the ball had reached the player and the offside flag had gone up (though we don't know that it actually would have).

If McAllister was going to get the ball I agree Elsdon made the right decision, but I'd like to see a replay to judge whether the ball might have carried through to the keeper.

Edited August 28, 2021 by Jaggy Snake

[Jack Burton]

He looked annoyingly familiar but I just can't put a name to him. 

I believe it is Ryan Blair, was at Stenny last season.

Was a very good result today when the line up was announced I feared the worst. The change of formation certainly helped and there were a lot of good, battling performances.

Cove barely troubled us in the first half and Goodwillie done well with both goals.

Thought our goal led a bit of a charmed life in the second half and we just couldn't keep the ball. I didn't see anything for why the penalty was given so will have to wait to see that in the highlights.

No game next week so hopefully some of the injuries clear up by the next game.

[Jaggy Snake]

It was a good battling performance from us today, although I'll reserve judgement on that formation for now. The fact that we nicked an early goal was perfect for our defensive set up. If it had stayed 0-0 for longer I'm sure more fans would have got edgy at our lack to attacking, barring a couple of good counters  by Cunningham. We were actually a bit lucky Cove didn't score in the first 2 minutes which would have made for a different game.

The pass from Balatoni for the first goal was a thing of beauty, although Cove will obviously be annoyed a low pass straight down the middle took their whole defence out.

I understand Cove's fans frustrations with Gourlay will mainly be from previous matches but blaming him for today is very harsh. He possibly could have held the second, though Goodwillie had tried to dink it over him, but he was left in two one-on-one situations by his awful defence. In reality, Goodwillie shouldn't have even given him a chance at the second goal.

Aside from the incident with Elsdon grappling in the box in the first half, we were also lucky Nicoll didn't concede a penalty. Yule thankfully high stepped away from a ridiculously unnecessary and useless slide from Nicoll, when if he'd just stood there or stepped normally he'd have been wiped out after crossing the ball. I was impressed by Yule but thankfully he disappeared a bit in the second half.

Scotland games (and the Challenge Cup) give us a 2 week break so hopefully Rumsby can recover in that time, though I have my doubts, along with Cuddihy & Splaine. I still fear for us without Elsdon anyway, who's been impressive so far.

Edited August 28, 2021 by Jaggy Snake

[CoveRangers1922]

15 minutes ago, Jack Burton said:

I believe it is Ryan Blair, was at Stenny last season.

Was a very good result today when the line up was announced I feared the worst. The change of formation certainly helped and there were a lot of good, battling performances.

Cove barely troubled us in the first half and Goodwillie done well with both goals.

Thought our goal led a bit of a charmed life in the second half and we just couldn't keep the ball. I didn't see anything for why the penalty was given so will have to wait to see that in the highlights.

No game next week so hopefully some of the injuries clear up by the next game.

Goals change games motto was certainly true today. First 5 minutes it was Cove pressure and a good header off the line kept it 0-0.  DGW breakaway and fine finish nullified that intent and gave some belief to Clyde. Scored at a perfect time before the break and duly took the points. We huffed and puffed after the half time break and had many attempts but not enough clear cut and credit to Clyde for that. We were too slow in our movement.

Edited August 28, 2021 by CoveRangers1922

[David W]

I can't help but feel that we would have got a third on the break if Goodwillie hadn't been wearing a base layer. Absolute lunatic. 

That sort of performance isn't going to be sustainable over a full season but to get to this break with 7 points from five games is a miracle that we should be delighted with that. Hopefully we'll return in the Peterhead game with the extra quality players we need to actually start producing better offensive performances. 

It makes such a difference when Kennedy, Livingstone, Cunningham and Balatoni contribute in a positive manner. The goalkeeper did well also. That said, in the last few minutes we've given up a penalty, red card, a succession of chances and even aided them in putting the ball onto the woodwork. Never mind Nicoll's bonkers tackle in the first half. We definitely rode our luck a bit. 

For all I've criticised our summer transfer activity, Cove giving Morgyn Neill a 3 year deal and asking him to play like Virgil van Dijk is just silly. At the other end, Megginson is absolutely terrifying to play against.