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Clyde vs Alloa Athletic


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First half was dreadful from us, constantly trying to get something from the long diagonal from Graham to Sammon. Clyde's goal was a neatly worked free kick but I felt that we should have reacted to the fake out s bit better.

Second we came out, increased the tempo and started to look like we might do something. Unfortunately the lack of quality up front was telling and we failed to make the most of the very good positions that we got into. Mid way through the second half the we started to lose our momentum and by the time Clyde scored I'd already resigned myself to defeat. I'd left before we got our consolation so I've not got much to say about it.

I do worry that unless we change our manager we're going to be in serious trouble.

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Another brutal watch in the first half but better signs in the second. 
 

Ferguson has changed us from a really good passing team who were good to watch (even in defeat) to a team doing nothing but lump up long balls either for Henderson (previously) to run on to, or to Sammon (now) to try and win in the air. It’s utterly turgid stuff. 
 

Felt Hutton was certainly at fault for the 2nd and may have done better with 1st, although was probably unsighted. On the same day his predecessor up the other end had a blinder, great stop from long range early on and then several decent saves in the 2nd half. Also noticed him giving it big licks towards the Alloa dugout after Clyde scored their second and I don’t blame him one bit for enjoying it. 
 

Thought Riley-Snow had a good game in the middle, spraying passes about for fun and winning the ball back a fair amount, but it looks like anyone with a bit of pace is going to breeze by him and leave us exposed. 
 

Great to see O’Donnell getting half an hour but decision to take Cawley off was baffling. Any of Boyd, Scougall or King should have made way. 
 

Was great to see us actually create a lot of chances in the 2nd half but the wastefulness in front of goal epitomised a team that is severely lacking in confidence. 
 

Great steak pie today so there’s that at least I suppose. 

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44 minutes ago, Mamtora said:

Is Howie enjoying his time at Alloa?

He was keen to have a spell in a team not fighting off the threat of relegation so left Clyde.

How's that going for you, Craig?

It was a reasonable enough call from Howie based on the last few years and strength of squads and relative budgets. He was taking a risk though making the move without knowing who our manager was going to be. That turned out to be a really bad decision. 

It looked questionable by Alloa themselves at the time to retain players and even add to the squad before finding a new manager. Followed then by a bizarre appointment. Strange calls from a club that has got so much right over the past decade. 

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The first part of the game was beautifully refreshing; a well-worked free-kick goal, a great headed chance for McAllister and an excellent save from Hutton to deny Jamieson. I get that we might sit back a bit with the lead, but the drop-off was staggering.

I think we've defended well in the past few months but I didn't think we defended well today in the second half. We were all over the place at times; illustrated by the number of last ditch saves that Parry made. We were sitting as deep as any side, yet they still got in behind us.

It doesn't help that teams now know that Page is absolutely awful at right-back, so whilst the idea of attacking him with Sammon in the first half didn't really work, the changes in the second half did. On top of that, Livingstone seriously struggled up against Taggart on the other side. Whilst accepting that we are a scrappy, defensive team, that still doesn't excuse some of the woeful distribution and ball retention which could ease the constant pressure we find ourselves under, accentuated by the sorry excuse of a striker who was bullied off every ball in his stroll-about today. We shouldn't be going 43 minutes of a home game against a poor side without mustering a single meaningful attack. 

That said, there's no doubt that Gomis, Cuddihy, Cunningham and Goodwillie (who barely broke into a run bar winning the free-kick from which we scored) would make a massive difference to that side offensively, even Kennedy who can keep the ball quite well, so maybe it is just a case of accepting the points regardless of how we do so. We are now in a position where if we can't manage the gaps that we have to one of Peterhead, Alloa and Dumbarton, then we'll firmly deserve to be in the relegation play-off and I think we have enough about us to be comfortably clear.

Positives; Parry was outstanding again and deserved a clean sheet. It's great to see we've done work on our set pieces as our record has been absolutely shocking. McAllister also had a good debut; anyone with pace will standout in our team but he got around the pitch well and is good in the air. Hopefully we'll get enough players back that we can put him at right-back soon. Finally, I'm delighted for Tade who is clearly just playing because he enjoys the game now. He deserves that moment.

As for Alloa, well Hutton had an absolute nightmare with the second goal. The lad Riley-Snow will be ripped to pieces against the slick midfields of Airdrie, QP and Montrose; I couldn't believe we stopped playing around him. Also, whilst appreciating his outstanding career in the Scottish lower leagues, Andy Graham has been absolutely rotten on three occasions against Clyde this season. I think Barry Ferguson will rightly feel a bit unlucky to have seen his team lose today but his record speaks for itself. Also, where was Trouten?

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Can't agree with that comment about Graham at all. He got skinned by Goodwillie at the end and committed a cynical foul - which led to the 2nd goal - but otherwise he was excellent today. Read the game really well, made a terrific tackle when Clyde were almost in, and started a good few moves from the back. No surprise that he isn't the player he was at this stage of his career and after a very serious injury two seasons ago, but still more than capable. Just a week since he was outstanding against Celtic too. 

Can only assume Trouten wasn't available as he was brilliant after coming off the bench against Celtic. 

Edited by Waspie
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14 minutes ago, David W said:

The Alloa YouTube has full highlights of the match up as well.

Thanks David. The second half didn’t get any easier to watch the second time around. Well done to Neil Parry for some great saves. Poor Tade being described as “the old man”. :lol:

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24 minutes ago, Adolfo Rios said:

That's quite the identity crisis Lewis Jamieson had yesterday. Fair enough being called Nick McAllister as he was at least on the pitch but Euan Deveney is some going when he left the club weeks ago.

I do it from memory when I'm commentating as I've not got a teamsheet from your esteemed media guys.

Missed Deveney leaving but also mistakenly had McAllister 7 and Jamieson 18.

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