the_bully_wee

Should add that I'm delighted for Ray Grant getting the goal as well, it's not often he gets his moment due to a noted lack of prowess in those areas but that'll have been a sweet one for him this afternoon, after his rehab and some patchy form on his return. He's been superb so far this season and, for me, is one of half a dozen players whose places in the team aren't remotely up for debate. I don't mind Paul McKay at all and wouldn't have any serious qualms about sticking with him, but I do prefer Howie alongside Hamilton. The only downside is that Howie isn't quite as much of an aerial presence in a team which generally lacks one, particularly if Rennie is absent. Despite not being the tallest, Connell does seem to win more than his fair share of duels so his inclusion going forward could well help on that front.

The HT subs all contributed in their own way and I think we should be regarding Connell as a starter now, either in that slightly withdrawn role or as the centre forward proper; his general play is good enough for that and the free kicks, corners and throw-ins are the cherry on top. The decision to replace Scullion with Rennie was a bit of a strange one and left us looking a bit vulnerable in the latter stages, but on the flip side he was involved in the build-up to a few great chances that could've put us out of sight. Important three points and hopefully McCall is stumbling ever closer to finding the magic formula; the midweek dead rubber against Rangers' kids might help with that too. Stranraer weren't all that bad last season and it looks like they've improved in some areas with the additions of Russell and Foster (who was giving Hamilton a torrid time before his injury). Probably light of a quality central midfielder to replace Fleming/Forrest but there's enough there to suggest they won't be Club 42 this year at least.

Worst offside decision I've ever seen aside, precious little to get animated over there. Really poor again and Stranraer really ought to be at least a goal ahead.

Conversely, by investing in your facilities, the ground becomes a more attractive and accessible proposition for away fans and you probably raise a good amount more in gate receipts. There's nothing inherently wrong with investing in your team over infrastructure in the short term, but panic buying Lowland League boys for massively inflated fees while some of your facilities continue to be wholly unfit for purpose is not a great look. Clyde aren't really relevant here because it's not like I'm a celebrant of their ongoing homelessness. If the club was to ever be in the fortunate position of having its own place, I would personally be a bit embarrassed if they broke the bank on a signing like this one over making a fairly elementary and inexpensive ground improvement. To each his own though.

You cannae beat a bit of big team style whataboutery, can you?

Really sad to see five-figure sums being chucked at Lowland League jobbers rather than upgrades to the embarrassingly tinpot pair of portaloos in the away end

Murdoch looks a cut above, even from seeing him in a game which wasn't suited to him whatsoever. Grant was once again excellent alongside him. That's about it for the positives, other than Kinnear and the centre halves standing up well to their end of the aerial bombardment. Hamilton is an awkward solution at right-back and the sooner McCall makes his mind up between the three centre-backs, the better. Allan was worse than useless on the rare occasion he saw the ball, Rennie had a poor game by his standards and Redfern's end product was garbage. I do think we will get there but that's been two listless performances in a row, so hopefully with a pair of relatively favourable home games coming up we can try to play with a bit more swagger and find some rhythm.

What a miserable way to spend an afternoon. Seriously disappointing that we didn't at least try to play our own game. The only saving grace is that a lot of teams will struggle there this season.

Reducing a tiny boy to tears over a megaphone that probably muted the volume if anything. Ridiculous. Really poor game so far, as everyone probably expected. Probably the kind where we'd be better served by having Dunachie up there rather than Allan.

Almost exactly the lineup most would expect other than Hamilton in for Houston - can't argue with it, as Forfar will be a threat from set pieces. Strong team and a ridiculously strong bench.

That is a terrific signing if he's fit, and a very useful one. It does imply that the Cuddihy/Lyon injuries may be more than just minor which is a bit of a concern.

It's lovely to see all the "(sadly/unfortunately)" addendums when folk are predicting that Clyde will win the title. I wasn't aware that so many people would miss us if we were promoted. My heart feels so full rn

And so it begins! Another gruelling campaign, sweeping the floor in the basement, hoping for an invitation to the League One ball come May. The hosts have suffered only one defeat in their last ten home games; the visitors have only claimed one win from their last ten visits to Station Park, those spanning over a quarter of a century. Ray The Snake's side had Clyde's number over the course of last season, too; the first two meetings saw the spoils shared, before The Bully Wee's survival hopes took a double dent in the run-in as Forfar edged their way to two triumphs. The home side's squad looks fairly similar in strength to that of last term, while Ian McCall has conducted a lower-league supermarket sweep to assemble a squad that has installed Clyde as the bookies' favourites to claim ultimate glory this season. Opening assignments don't get much stickier than this on paper, however, and there's a keen sense of the unknown enveloping this game given the opposition faced to date - Edinburgh were clearly a cut below, while Motherwell, Partick and Montrose were all evidently cuts above and those games saw mixed performances and results. This will be the first litmus test for a bunch that has justifiably instilled optimism in even the most weathered of Bully Wee supporters. I expect that this could be a tough old watch if McKinnon's famously stingy brand of football has survived the summer. I wouldn't sniff at a draw from this one, but expect Clyde to take the game to Forfar and think we have enough to defy history and get off to a bright start. What say you, Loons?

I preferred the Jimmy Choo gimmick, personally. I'm sure you'll see sense eventually.

McCall saying it's a groin issue for Cuddihy, which is a bit of a concern as he missed a wee run of games in the second half of last season with a similar complaint I'm sure. So frustrating that he keeps on picking up these niggling injuries, as McCall obviously loves him and his partnership with Grant.

Encouraging note to finish on, probably should've taken something out of the game but there were too many sloppy final balls (Robson a culprit in particular) and we weren't helped by some utterly wild officiating - hopefully that's us paid our dues for a wee while. I think we set out with the 352 anticipating that Montrose would line up that way and in acknowledgement of how much Motherwell exposed us with the same shape. The joy of having Paul McKay is that he can play at the back or in midfield and I'd have liked to have seen us making the switch a bit sooner, particularly with us missing Cuddihy. After the swap to a back four we got a bit of a foothold and the subs improved us even further second half - Connelly probably has some fitness to find and I reckon he'll be at his best when the collective is, but he alongside a few others was poor today. Ray Grant and Howie were standouts once again, really pleased with their performances so far. Hopefully Cuddihy and Hamilton are fit for next week's opener and I imagine McCall will have a right good idea of the best personnel and formation for the job.

Took too long to make that switch to that back four, for me it should've happened as soon as possible after kick off. We've been better since then, but Montrose are streets ahead. Really missing Cuddihy, can only hope he was withdrawn as a precaution.

Could be that to match up with Montrose, but I suspect we will just have McKay in midfield. Intrigued to see which it is.

How many points does he think Clyde will win the league by?

Well, for Thistle, nothing but a win will be good enough regardless of what we do, so their approach to the game won't be affected by playing a day later. Motherwell similarly know that defeat is not an option for them in any scenario, as 8pts won't be enough. I really can't foresee that they will purposely weaken their team or risk playing for a draw when the opposition are able to progress, and probably eliminate them, with a victory. I'd only be concerned about the timing of that game if it were possible for both sides to benefit from knowing the state of play, but thankfully that's not the case. They'll both be playing to win and our potential qualification is almost guaranteed not to be impacted by the result.

There would only be any real advantage if there was some kind of mutually agreeable outcome for Motherwell and Partick, but no such thing is likely to exist (I haven't looked at all the permutations myself, but 8pts is pretty much never enough to qualify). None of the four possible outcomes of their game would realistically result in both of them qualifying, regardless of our result on Saturday; the 'best' that can happen for them is finishing on 9 and 8 points respectively, in either order, with the team on 8 extremely likely to be goners. Thistle basically need to win; even a bonus point victory for them isn't going to be enough, and a defeat would see Motherwell out. It would be lovely to qualify for the knockouts and we've got enough squad depth that adding another game to the calendar isn't any kind of a bother; the prize money would be very welcome too, of course. I wouldn't be at all dismayed if we don't get out of the group, though, and my primary concern is seeing us turn in another good performance against a side from a higher level.

There's just so much to love about what we saw tonight. I will temper the rest of what's about to come by saying that Thistle are clearly set up to get a lot out of their full-backs, who were both missing and without proper back-up options tonight, but that's all the tempering I will be doing. I came into this group stage with a complete lack of emotion; hopeful, and with a slight expectancy, of seeing a bunch that were physically in good shape and technically of a level that would stand us in good stead for the league season to come. These are early days, and it feels worrying to say this so soon, but they've already got me very excited. I feared the worst after a slick move and wonderful finish seemed to have Thistle on easy street tonight, but the reaction after the first quarter of an hour was terrific and I was struck by just how much joy we were having with second balls, a theme which continued until the end. I think the freak own goal definitely helped us, but Dunachie's wonderful goal (if he meant his initial flick to set himself, it's absolute genius) really established us within the game before the break. Funnily enough, the equaliser came as a consequence of our best spell of play; Leitch (good tonight, over the piece) perhaps should've taken his early chance on his left foot and granted us some daylight, and then we were a touch naive in being so expansive in search of a third which led to their second. From there, Kinnear, whose substandard kicking to that point was a bit of a bugbear, stepped up and he made one outstanding save and a couple of good ones to keep Thistle at bay. It seems like just yesterday I watch watching Jack Leighfield conjure up new ways to sell goals every week. I would say Doolan got it wrong in having his team go quite so gung-ho and our subs, particularly Rennie and Connelly, seemed to love the space that was afforded to them. The work done by the latter for the winner cannot be underestimated; I was no fan of Rennie from his signing to our relegation, but he's stepped it up massively in terms of fitness and output since then (particularly under McCall), and to the extent that he's now a personal favourite. It was a terrific moment in the Clyde end and, in my opinion, only enhanced by us being crammed in that corner of the stand like sardines. These are early days, and despite my promise to myself, I think I'm officially getting a wee bit carried away. There's something in the water here.

Thistle competed quite well against us at times tonight, so I reckon they'll go on to have a pretty good season.

That's one of the best pieces of centre forward play I've seen from a Clyde player, absolutely unreal. McCall must be wishing he hadn't bothered pursuing Jordan Allan.

Decent quality full-backs are notoriously challenging to sign at this level, which has been a contributing factor to us generally having had such poor ones over the past decade or so. You won't find a single Clyde fan, 'cult member' or not, who thinks Ross Lyon is a particularly good football player, but he can cover both flanks adequately (as he did in our excellent run of form at the end of last season, post-Bonnyrigg fiasco) and it's clear that McCall similarly believes he has something to offer as a back-up or rotational option. There are also other important factors to consider which are invisible to us; wages, personality, usefulness in training, temperament. Writing Cuddihy and Grant off is absolute insanity when the two of them were excellent in the last Clyde team to win promotion from this division (and which should've won the title); McCall himself said at the end of the season that he believes the pair of them plus Ballantyne formed the best midfield in the league and singled out Cuddihy as a player who could play at a higher level, if he could improve his fitness. Both have enjoyed good starts to the season, while the sum total of Docherty's and D. Lyon's contributions thus far are impressing against a QotS youth/trialist medley in a friendly, and looking some way off it yesterday respectively. I really don't understand why some in our 'support' expend so much time and effort being relentlessly (and often baselessly) negative, even in times of great positivity. Must be a thoroughly miserable existence.