Stirling Albion vs Clyde

[maxruby]

Sooooooooooper!

[David W]

In an ocean of mediocrity, an absolutely beautiful three points.

[Karpaty]

Very even game. 0-0 would probably have been the right result but I'll take it. Didn't think it was a penalty and the ref was poor overall.

[the_bully_wee]

Thought it was a definite penalty, a stupid challenge to make. We absolutely shat it after scoring and Stirling were the better team in the second half. You can tell the team hasn't quite gelled yet but I was impressed by the vast majority of our players. Murray and Brisbane not great, but Smith was absolutely outstanding for us. Bolo also very solid and McLaughlin very combative in the midfield. Can see us having a good season if we keep players fit and suspension-free.

[Bully Wee Villa]

Statement of intent from the Champions Elect.

[Jack Burton]

Poor game but 3 points the important thing at this stage. We were the better team in the first half but created little was the reverse in the second half. Stirling player made an arse of it for the pen allowed Gormley to steal the ball from him then hauled him down.

Smith was excellent at the back but Brisbane and Murray were poor.

[headthebaw]

Very even game. 0-0 would probably have been the right result but I'll take it. Didn't think it was a penalty and the ref was poor overall.

This. Although I couldn't see the penalty incident clearly.

Statement of intent from the Champions Elect.

Really?

1-0 up against 10 men and resorting to time waisting. Is this the way Barry's going to win the league?

[CM.]

^ raging

[maxruby]

Time waisting? Mmmm. Perhaps we can diet our way to the title?

[Francesc Fabregas]

Poor game of football with the penalty the only thing to separate the sides. There's a lot of good players at Clyde but it doesn't seem to have gelled yet. It'll take some time for the front three to build an understanding.

I thought Scott Linton was the best player on the park, he was great on the ball and always a threat whenever he motored forward.

[Garrowhillclyde]

resorting to time waisting.

We're paunching above our weight....

[maxruby]

Nice wordplay!

[maxruby]

I sense a pun fest coming on!

[rhliston]

Penalty and sending off were the turning point in this game, didn't think it was a penalty, felt it was harsh.

First half Clyde had 2 good chances, one good save from Chris Smith to stop the Clyde No 5 from scoring.

The Albion had a couple of chances but couldn't make anything of them, not surprising with Beattie up front on his own and no body playing alongside to give him support.

Second half the Albiion were the better team but despite bringing on Sandy Cunningham and Steven Doris we were unable to score. A draw would have been imo the acceptable result but this match turned on a decision by a referee who imo had a poor game.

[Wee Bully]

I thought the wind was stronger than it felt from the stand, and the pitch was absolutely awful for this point of the season.

First half was all Clyde. Second half, Stirling were the better side, and I think the wind might have had something to do with that.

I thought Gormley looked a real player, and the back 4 were all solid. McLaughlin was good too. Not convinced by Campbell or Murray.

We got out of jail with the Stirling penalty claim - stonewaller. Two hands raised to the ball. To be fair to the ref, he looked completely unsighted. Ours was a stonewaller too, but I thought the red card harsh

Good start to the season. The players seem to be responding to the supporters and vice versa, so all good for the coming season.

[maxruby]

Poor first attempt but defeat today would have been hard to stomach.

[The_BullyWee]

It was a scrappy three points and last season that would have been a game that we would draw or possibly lose.

I felt we ignored the midfield too much and lumped the ball up the park without any direction on the passes.

I thought it was between Linton & Smith for my MOTM with Smith just shading it with his work at the end of the game when we panicked and started defending way too deep.

[sydney]

Poor game on a terrible pitch. Didn't think we deserved the 3 points to be fair. Will take it though !

Thought Stirling could easily have had a penalty for hand ball not long before ours.

Stirling were the better team in the second half- when they stopped aiming the ball at Beattie at every opportunity. Beattie looked extremely unfit and looks past it to be honest. And he's only 31 apparently !

[dillan]

The game was not free flowing but for the first game of the season i will take 3 points of title challengers all day long

[David W]

Score 2 goals and you'll generally win games. Don't concede 2 goals and you'll generally not get beaten. We've got half of that wrapped up but the other half will be a problem.

First half we might have had more possession but we were pretty awful. I'm not really sure what the game plan was, with Campbell and Gormley not really out wide and not really central and not really getting involved. Higgins barely had a pass into his feet at any point. Some save from Smith to keep out Bolochoweckyj's header but Gibson had to make a couple of good stops as well. Gormley got chopped down in the box in full view of the referee but he bizarrely played advantage. Easily the clearest of the three penalty shouts.

Second half Stirling again may have had more possession but they didn't look like scoring, though it looked like they could've had a penalty for a handbal. We'd told the strikers to stay high up the pitch but with very little success. Fortunately, Ferguson finally changed things and I thought we wrestled back a bit more control with Marsh on the pitch and Higgins sitting deeper in a midfield diamond. We suddenly had a front pairing who were closer together and able to cause their central defenders direct problems. Marsh immediately gave us "movement between the lines", to use MotD speak; exploiting space is what I'd call it. I've commented on his performances in there previously and he's simply too powerful for most other midfielders in the league (once he's ran off the back of someone they aren't catching him) and adds to that a goal threat that Brisbane/McLaughlin haven't shown.

I thought the penalty was pretty stonewall but Gormley obviously made the most of it (nothing wrong with that and it'll bring us a fair few points). Looked like a shirt tug and then a trip. Pretty obvious red card once he's made that decision.

The bookies odds mean absolutely nothing and it's hard to tell how good these sides are based on that one game. Stirling's attacks invariably failed when they got near Johnston or Beattie. Normally when a player drops down from the top level he has a noticeable touch or vision but he looked like a non-league clogger today. Cunningham must be a huge disappointment as a couple of years back he looked like he was going to kick on. They should be better when McMillan is back. They don't want to lose next week though at Annan; a run of defeats on the back of last season might be tough to break out of.

It's important for us to remember we're without two hugely important players in McLaughlin and Durie and yet defensively we were very tight. Two outstanding footballers at full-back and two rugged centre halves who know what they're doing. The only time things fell apart was immediately following the goal as Linton fell asleep but Smith produced a good clearance to keep the lead. Going to become a cult hero I reckon.

Murray seemed half asleep and played a couple of ridiculous passes. McLaughlin was okay. Brisbane needs to do more but you can see why Ferguson picks him. Playing the front three in that alignment didn't work and won't ever work. All three are very different (throw in McQueen as well) so there should end up being something that works eventually. Then maybe getting Scott Ferguson in there as well.

Any lack of effort out there? No chance. A small squad may hurt us but the full squad has quality and every player offers something.

Main thing is we'll get a bit of confidence from the win and it's important for us to keep plugging away over the first quarter. Maybe that's why we're trying to keep things tight. I can see us pulling away over winter if we're up there; with the exception of McAllister I think we're similar to Peterhead of two years ago.