Clyde vs Airdrieonians

[David W]

I didn't think we could get any worse than a season where any points we took were entirely undeserved, and the football lacked any entertainment value. This is completely soul destroying, having nothing to play for from mid-October on. Then being competitive in almost every game but losing regardless. 

That's two home games on the spin that we've gifted teams who aren't close to scoring a goal a stupid penalty kick. I'm not a fan of Allan but his non-introduction until after the first goal screamed of Moore trying to stop our run with a draw rather than a win, similar to last week. 

Sula offered nothing going forward but he kept Smith quiet which doesn't normally happen when we play Airdrie. Lyon sitting in the stand is a massive improvement on my usual Saturday.

Thicot didn't do anything wrong which was a surprise. Peter Grant was outstanding and it's a shame his improved displays in recent weeks didn't start earlier. Scullion isn't a passenger but he's also not really good enough to play centrally. Genuinely don't ever notice that Cameron is playing; he's obviously supposed to be an offensive player but can't beat a man or pick out a particularly inventive pass. He doesn't even excel defensively. 10 starts for him this season is baffling. 

Airdrie are a lot poorer without Frizzell, especially given that they also lost Easton. Tried to pass the ball about the same as usual but far too slow. I think there are four better teams in the league.

After rightly panning the referee last week, I think it's fair to highlight a good performance today. If everyone refereed like that then I'd have no complaints. I did think Airdrie could have had a second spot-kick late on in fairness.

 

[Replays]

Usual story from us today. Worked hard, competed well but there’s just not enough quality in that team. I’ve a bit of sympathy for Moore on that front today as Kennedy, McLean and Cuddihy being out (as well as Rodden, Duthie and Mullen) left next to nothing on the bench.
 

Allan should have been on the pitch sooner and I’d have him ahead of Cunningham in the pecking order at the moment. However, it was evident from the hour mark that we were flagging with us struggling to retain the ball well at all. However, with nothing on the bench, I was praying that we could hold on for a 0-0.

Alas, our customary mistake came and that was that. Even with a good chance at the end, Craig (who was poor today)  fluffed his lines our misery continues. It’s frustrating as a team that would stay would scrap out a point out of that, as we should have done several times during this run.

I think all we can hope for is that we can keep above Peterhead, bring in a couple of decent loanees/free agents in January and get a decent run together to hopefully go into the playoffs in a decent bit of form. It’s a huge gap to the team above and barring a miracle, 9th is all we can hope for. No lack of effort from the players mind.

 

ETA: Peter Grant was great today and had 3 or 4 great tackles/clearances. Very unlucky to be on the losing team.

Edited November 5, 2022 by Scott-Replay

[Diamonds are Forever]

1 hour ago, Mybitchunderprotest said:

Parry only saved the penalty because he'd taken at least 2 steps off his line. The image I've posted is before LJ had even connected with the ball. I have to say I've not got much confidence in the ability of referee assistants to even notice that though. It was clear as day when I watched the video as you can see him well off the line by the time you hear the sound of the ball being struck.

 

Parry has always done this, I remember a few years ago when Alloa beat us on penalties in the play-off semi he was miles off his line for each he saved. Good luck to him, assistants never do their job with this so I'm surprised more goalies don't do it.

[diamondman]

Happy with 3 points but a hard watch today.

[GroundskeeperWillie]

So frustrating that we performed well and worthy of a point, only to throw it away late on.  The concession of the penalty felt like the most Clyde-type thing to do, as although we rarely troubled their keeper, I don't think Neil Parry had too much to do either.

Our problems are pretty evident, a very slow defence, very little in midfield (relying on hopeful punts upfield and then not closing space enough when Airdrie were in possession) and an ineffectual front line.

Peter Grant was definitely star man today, although also thought Jon Craig did well at left back.

Don't get the apparent hatred of Ewan Cameron, never hides and while he never did anything breathtaking, he was far from the worse player on the field, and certainly didn't anything costly (a la Morgaro Gomis who once again sold the jerseys and cost us)

Heard a few complaints about the subs not coming on earlier, but by all accounts Jordan Allan is carrying an injury and was lucky to get the time on the field he did.  Thought Olly McDonald looked sharp though when he came on.

Until we get a proper front man and a capable midfield, we really are snookered for this season (Kurtis Roberts has tried hard and I get it's a hard shift on your own at times, but he doesn't have enough about him to be an out and out forward, while the centre mid of Ray Grant and Gomis just isn't working at all).  At the moment it's hard to see where the next goal, let alone point, is going to come from (especially going to East End Park next week)

[Karpaty Lviv]

Peter Grant was in the stand today. I don’t know if he usually attends to see his son, or maybe sizing up the job opportunity? 

[GroundskeeperWillie]

2 minutes ago, Karpaty Lviv said:

Peter Grant was in the stand today. I don’t know if he usually attends to see his son, or maybe sizing up the job opportunity? 

I think he's been a fairly regular visitor this season, so wouldn't read too much into that.

Did notice Alan Johnston was in the stand today as well, again probably nothing in it, but always worth getting the rumour mill started

[Mr November]

33 minutes ago, GroundskeeperWillie said:

I think he's been a fairly regular visitor this season, so wouldn't read too much into that.

Did notice Alan Johnston was in the stand today as well, again probably nothing in it, but always worth getting the rumour mill started

Not an experienced option but Scott Agnew was there as well. 

A poor game overall and if it wasn't for the penalty I think a 0-0 was a certainty. Clyde defended pretty well and made sure there wasn't big gaps for Jamieson to exploit. Cunningham and Roberts were lively but the lack of any physicality up there, or even beyond the defence, meant we were largely untroubled. I thought Fordyce had a few dodgy moments (again!) but we got away with them. Euan Deveney was the best player on the park, he has his moments defensively at times but I think he's worth persevering with, as while he's still raw and inexperienced you can never fault his commitment and attitude. 

We got away with it today but the lack of subs was a concern again today. We have plenty of numbers there with the young boys padding out the bench but even Clyde had better options today in Jordan Allan, whereas with ATS ostensibly not fully fit our only senior option was Dean McMaster. Still, a very good three points given the performance and it was important to keep another clean sheet and grind out a win.

[Clyde_1977]

Same old story, no surprise really. Good effort, no creativity, bad luck at key points.  If we had an option of Kennedy or Cuddihy on the bench we might have scraped the point Moore was clearly playing for. As it is we will probably have them back for Dunfermline and Falkirk where we have no chance of taking anything.  I would have put Cunningham in front of Sula and brought Allan on and had a bit more of a go when it was 0-0.  Try to get a bit more going in terms of a counter attack. 

[papa57]

16 hours ago, TamClyde said:

We go again next week. Typical Airdrie getting a helping hand off the cheating refs today 

A helping hand?, we were robbed of 2 more stonewall penaltys, not to mention the amount of fouls the ref let clyde away with

[SLClyde]

Who made the tackle for the penalty? What a stupid challenge to make from behind, was never getting near the ball. 
 

How many times do we shoot ourselves in the foot? Yesterday, Kennedy getting sent off last week, Scullions non clearance at Kelty, scullions sending off against Montrose off the top of my head. 

[CM.]

Looked like the young left back Jon Craig. Daft, inexperienced challenge to make especially when it looked like Peter Grant had it covered. 

[TamClyde]

2 hours ago, papa57 said:

A helping hand?, we were robbed of 2 more stonewall penaltys, not to mention the amount of fouls the ref let clyde away with

Took a while, but we finally got a bite. Yaldy

[Diamond10]

That game would’ve put you to sleep yesterday but a wins a win. As mentioned above we huff and puff but we desperately need Frizz back in the side. 

As for Clyde, i said at the start of the season they would go down. I feel they may have shot themselves in the foot leaving Broadwood. It felt very much like a neutral venue yesterday with fans probably split 50/50 at least at Broadwood you felt like it was a proper away game. It probably ends any rivalry between our two clubs. Can’t believe Nacho isn’t getting a game either I’m sure he scored a good few goals for the Forfar team that got relegated a few seasons ago.

As for ourselves 2 big home games coming up.  Only 4 points from 2nd Place but a long way from the heights we hit last season.

Thought that was Cammy Ballantyne and Euan Deveneys best game’s for us so far. 

[Replays]

On 05/11/2022 at 21:26, Karpaty Lviv said:

Peter Grant was in the stand today. I don’t know if he usually attends to see his son, or maybe sizing up the job opportunity? 

I’ve seen him at the Alloa and QotS home games this season. Hopefully, he’s just being a supportive father!

[ScottR96]

Aye, he was sat near me at Hibs in July and I’ve seen him a few times since. 

You’d imagine the manager’s vacancy has at the very least turned his head but think it’d be a disaster. 

[FREDDYFRY]

Aye, saw him at most home games certainly. I’m sure he will be interested but I’m afraid he’s shown absolutely zero potential in any of his previous jobs so please, no thanks.

[Diamond1924]

The worst game of football I have ever seen. Both team were really poor and it was always going to take something like a penalty to settle it. 
 

Happy with the 3 points though lol. 

[Otis Blue]

On 05/11/2022 at 18:48, Mybitchunderprotest said:

Parry only saved the penalty because he'd taken at least 2 steps off his line. The image I've posted is before LJ had even connected with the ball. I have to say I've not got much confidence in the ability of referee assistants to even notice that though. It was clear as day when I watched the video as you can see him well off the line by the time you hear the sound of the ball being struck.

That's a pretty damning photo tbf.  The lino/assistant appears to be in the right place doing his job, but he doesn't.  Maybe he thinks his only task is to confirm if the ball crosses the line ... maybe the SFA need to remind him about also watching the goalie's movement.  Of course most keepers take a step forward on penalties to launch themselves into the dive ... biomechanics and all that stuff ...

[AndyDD]

32 minutes ago, Otis Blue said:

That's a pretty damning photo tbf.  The lino/assistant appears to be in the right place doing his job, but he doesn't.  Maybe he thinks his only task is to confirm if the ball crosses the line ... maybe the SFA need to remind him about also watching the goalie's movement.  Of course most keepers take a step forward on penalties to launch themselves into the dive ... biomechanics and all that stuff ...

Accepting that it isnae exactly conclusive given its a still from a video, but it looks to me like the assistant is actually looking at the action, his head towards Jamieson as he goes to hit the ball, rather than across at the goalie, which... yeesh. I don't think he's calling for a retake it the rebound doesn't get tucked away, so we were very fortunate that Parry gifted the ball back to Jamieson in the way he did.