SPFL League 1 Play Off Semi Final: East Fife v Clyde/Clyde v East Fife

[FREDDYFRY]

Without Cudihay and Doherty (not his biggest fan) it’s going to be potentially long night, hopefully keep it tight and a stronger side on Friday. 
Still as I’ve said before playoffs are a bonus I never thought we’d be near this season

[David W]

Playing Doherty on Saturday was beyond stupid given we had two strikers on the bench.

[Bullyweeno1]

See we have 5 on the bench whereas EF have 9

 

Could be the difference as they can change half their team if they want in 2nd half

[Bully Wee Clyde FC]

We had both the best cajnces of the match.  Haven't seen Cameron touch the ball yet.

Some reward for wee Oli after 2 goals on Saturday.

[David W]

Cameron has had a couple of decent games playing centrally but he has literally never played well out wide, it's not like he does anything defensively either.

A fairly even, open half but no doubt that Mullen has kept us in it. Awful mistakes from Craig and Lyon to set up both of EFs big chances.

[Bully Wee Clyde FC]

There's only 1 Martin Rennie

[Replays]

Nice to get the win, particularly away from home but not a vintage performance. If we manage to get through on Friday, I think we’ll definitely find it hard against Annan. They’ll be full of confidence, they’ve had the core of their squad for a long time, they can rest a few players at the weekend and they’ve a few ex-Clyde men who’ll be happy to get it up us. We could really do with getting Cuddihy, Doherty and Cunningham back in.

[SLClyde]

2 hours ago, SLClyde said:

Need Roberts and Salkeld to play well and support Rennie, who id expect a bit more from against league 2 opposition. 

Cheers Martin. 

[Brian Carrigan]

7 minutes ago, Scott-Replay said:

They’ll be full of confidence, they’ve had the core of their squad for a long time

They certainly still have a few boys who played when we beat them in the play offs last time

[the_bully_wee]

That is a fine result, but we played nowhere near as well as we have done lately and it's no coincidence that was with Doherty missing. Really hope he finds fitness as Rennie, despite the few good things he will do each game, doesn't offer enough in a team playing as direct as we did tonight. Salkeld's missed one on one could come back to haunt us, but he did really well to set up the goal and remains our biggest creative outlet. I've got no idea why Duffy brought on Duthie only to shunt him up front when he's all about facing men up and their right back was on a booking. Praying that Sula's injury isn't a bad one, because we can't be depending on Thicot starting. I don't think we will be able to live with Annan physically even if we do navigate this one on Friday.

Edited May 9, 2023 by the_bully_wee

[Bully Wee Clyde FC]

13 minutes ago, the_bully_wee said:

I don't think we will be able to live with Annan physically even if we do navigate this one on Friday.

Edited 8 minutes ago by the_bully_wee

I don't know that much about Annan, but their 2 talisman performers are Johnstone and Wallace, neither of whom looked like players when the stole wages at Clyde.  I also saw them against Pollok in the cup and, again, they looked ordinary.

I'm guessing Duffy's plan was not to lose tonight and the 1 goal lead has to be a bonus.  Our lack of sharpness in front of goal is my worry: we could have easily scored 2 in the 1st half and another in the 2nd half, if the ball had been squared.

[Exiled Fifer]

Congrats to Clyde, I thought that they looked very dangerous on the break and could have added 1 or maybe 2 goals extra. EF were poor and couldn’t get the engines up running. Clyde nullified the midfield causing EF passes going astray with Trouten , Ferguson and McManus all having off days. All is not lost for Friday but a far better display wii be required than tonight. Then, if successful, the big buggers from Annan await. Can’t see the boys from the Rock pulling back six…snigger, snigger.

[FREDDYFRY]

Absolutely take that especially given the squad available tonight. I imagine Friday is still too soon to get anyone back, but at least we have the one goal lead. 
Possibly can start Duthie on Friday which would be a positive. Anyway nervy game to come.

Edited May 9, 2023 by FREDDYFRY

[Barry Ferguson's Hat]

East Fife must be utter catshit.

[the_bully_wee]

9 minutes ago, Bully Wee Clyde FC said:

I don't know that much about Annan, but their 2 talisman performers are Johnstone and Wallace, neither of whom looked like players when the stole wages at Clyde.  I also saw them against Pollok in the cup and, again, they looked ordinary.

My worry where Annan are concerned is Tommy Goss. He is absolutely massive and I was at their play-off final against Edinburgh last year, in which he utterly ragdolled Edinburgh's back line at times and was a threat from every set piece. That plus the delivery of Willie Gibson does scare me to some degree, even if they're much weaker in the midfield without Moxon.

Still, I won't be looking too far ahead. East Fife showed tonight that they have a bit of football in them and some trickery in the wide areas, even if they did struggle to create much against us. Friday's game won't be a cakewalk, particularly if the injury list doesn't shorten by then.

[Clyde01]

8 hours ago, Clyde01 said:

Our away form is particularly abysmal, we’ve managed 6 points away from home all season and three of those were on the opening day in Dumfries. As such I would be reasonably happy with a draw tonight, given that our home form has been decent in the second half of the season. 

Not a bad time to notch only our second away win of the campaign.

[GroundskeeperWillie]

Not our best performance by a long shot, but by god we'll take that result.  Felt first half in particular we were reliant too much on too many hit and hope shells up the park.  The goal though was a true testament to the tenacity of Cammy Salkeld, and it was nicely finished by Rennie.

One thing not mentioned so far though was that Ryan Mullen made 3-4 really key stops, and that could be crucial going into Friday's game, as it was clearly the difference between having a lead to defend on Friday versus possibly having to chase it.

Though Salkeld was by far our best man, although Sula and McLean patrolled the defence really well.  As for East Fife, expected a lot more from them, almost forgot Alan Trouten was playing for them until he came off.

If we get through, still fear that Annan will give us a really tough test, especially at Galabank, but we've still every reason to be optimistic we can stay up.

[Jaggy Snake]

Well that was a pleasant surprise. As others have said, we didn't play to our best so it's even better to eek out a win like that. East Fife will still be very dangerous on Friday and I think the larger pitch at Hamilton might help them.

We have to hope Sula is okay and that Doherty might make a recovery. Cuddihy would be a bonus too obviously. 

Mullen was probably our man of the match for a couple of important saves but I'd also give a shout out to Hynes, who had his best game for us yet. He doesn't offer much on the ball obviously but worked immensely hard tonight to provide cover in the fullback areas and made a lot of key interceptions and clearances too. 

Edited May 9, 2023 by Jaggy Snake

[CM.]

36 minutes ago, Jaggy Snake said:

Mullen was probably our man of the match for a couple of important saves

That was the first I've seen of Mullen and I was very impressed with him. I don't think Parry deserved anywhere near some of the stick he got but Mullen does look like an upgrade and obviously has age on his side. It looks like there's been a vast improvement in Liam Scullion too. Full back still remains an area of concern for me though.

Have East Fife shortened their pitch since it went to astro? The far touchline looked closer in than it used to when I was last there in the 2014 play off.

Edited May 9, 2023 by CM.

[David W]

I thought we had a bit more aggression and experience about us tonight than East Fife, albeit we had to rely on Mullen to make a couple of great saves. Very solid down the spine of the team, absolutely terrible in wide areas, not including Scullion. You could make a reasonable argument that there was five or six starters sitting in the stand this evening, so a good result all in.

They got a good result tonight admittedly, but I'm not sure either side needs to be overly worried about Annan.  They finished a massive one point ahead of East Fife. That said, I think they probably match up to play against us quite well.