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

[TamClyde]

That was absolutely dreadful. We really should have been relegated by 9.30PM. 
 

The players lack confidence and have done all season it is so clear to see. Tactics all wrong from JD who decided it was best we go defence and hold onto slim lead whilst hoofing endless long balls up the park to no one. (Danny Lennon flashbacks).

game was heading for penalties as we couldn’t finish any chances we created even if they were on a plate. 
 

chuffed and surprised to come out alive, but we need to regroup and go again against (likely) Annan next week. 

[TamClyde]

2 minutes ago, clyde_1877 said:

is it at annan or hamilton on tuesday?

Lowest ranked team at home first leg, highest ranked team home on second leg, so I belive it will be annan away tues and at hamilton on Friday.

[Skyline Drifter]

3 minutes ago, clyde_1877 said:

is it at annan or hamilton on tuesday?

Annan / Dumbarton Tuesday.

 

Ok, Annan but its not official yet.

[clyde_1877]

17 minutes ago, TamClyde said:

Lowest ranked team at home first leg, highest ranked team home on second leg, so I belive it will be annan away tues and at hamilton on Friday.

if hamilton lose their play off it will be saturday?

[Replays]

3 minutes ago, clyde_1877 said:

if hamilton lose their play off it will be saturday?

I believe the final is the Friday because it’s on the tele.

[GroundskeeperWillie]

Lets not beat about the bush, that was absolute garbage tonight and we literally just scraped past a 10 man team in the end.  Had Mullen not made that superb stop in the second half, we were down.

I can't believe how pedestrian we were at times, for a long period East Fife looked like the League One team.  The sending off naturally changed that dynamic as they had to retreat into their shell somewhat and that gave us a bit of impetus, not that we used it often...

I'd be starting Olly McDonald on Tuesday night and bench Doherty, he looked knackered early doors and just wasn't on it at all.  Also hopefully Cuddihy stays fit so he can also start as I would also be giving Hynes some time on the bench, everything went sideways with him and the chronic lack of urgency seemed to be all too apparent when he was on the ball.  Would have hooked him ahead of Scullion at half time.

We were guilty of hit and hope tactics on Tuesday as well to be honest, just masked by the fact we scored and they didn't.  To be clear, if we play like that on Tuesday, it will be advantage Annan going into the home leg.

[Bully Wee Clyde FC]

Mission accomplished. Got through.  If we get through the next 2, no one will remember Doherty waddling off. 

[RateofKnots]

Good to see Shepard is still a grade A walloper.

[Clyde01]

Seen some East fife fans raging about the ref and sending off on Twitter. A clear elbow and only surprise it wasn’t a straight red. Also why were they then booing the victim of the elbow assault, absolute weirdos. 

[GroundskeeperWillie]

1 minute ago, Clyde01 said:

Seen some East fife fans raging about the ref and sending off on Twitter. A clear elbow and only surprise it wasn’t a straight red. Also why were they then booing the victim of the elbow assault, absolute weirdos. 

They were the same with the first booking as well, but that tackle in itself was borderline a dismissal as well, you could hear the impact from up in the stands.

Felt Mr Napier was not up to scratch though, refereed the game as if he felt it was beneath him to be doing the game.  Was miles off the pace at times and just made up decisions on the fly at times.  The moment he turned his back at a throw in thus was oblivious to all going on around him summed it all up.

[Cosmic Joe]

Sometimes the better side loses. That's fitba for you. We should have been out of sight at half time but them's the rubs. 

Looking forward to seeing the likes of Brogan Walls, Liam Newton, Jack Healy, Aaron Steele and Ryan Schiavone next season as they improve and develop. 

Some support through tonight as well. 

[David W]

9 minutes ago, Clyde01 said:

Seen some East fife fans raging about the ref and sending off on Twitter. A clear elbow and only surprise it wasn’t a straight red. Also why were they then booing the victim of the elbow assault, absolute weirdos. 

Football fans isn't it? They should be absolutely raging at Shepherd for picking up two ridiculous yellows in quick succession. I bet some of them clapped him off when he single-handedly ruined their chances of winning.

Whilst I agree that the first half display was diabolical - midfield in particular - I thought the second half was fairly even up until the red card. Duffy's half-time changes, moving to a diamond in midfield, got us something of a foothold. Mullen then made a tremendous save against ten men but we actually played as well against ten men as we have for years and showed enough patience to ultimately nick it. 

It make such a difference when Cuddihy is in the team in terms of picking up second balls and even just having a bit more culture to the punts forward. Roberts much better from half-time onwards. Sula being our fourth choice centre half earlier this year is absolutely crazy.

Hynes and Lyon were beyond terrible tonight. I can see McGeever coming into a back three for the trip to Annan.

Healy is obviously a talented boy but his end product over the two games was really poor. I was impressed by Alex Ferguson. 

 

[the philosopher]

Should of went to penalties after 90 mins 

[Life on Marrs?]

7 hours ago, GoldenNuggets_YeeHaa said:

Piston ring away on the car sadly won't make the game. Mon the Fife!! 

Not so good

[Life on Marrs?]

6 hours ago, the_bully_wee said:

It'll be a travesty if we progress through this.

My thoughts entirely!

[fifer67]

7 hours ago, RateofKnots said:

Different play off, different rules.

Remember, the governing body invented that play off on the fly.

Surely you would think rules would be the same for all the play offs only in Scotland could they come up with this our game is a laughing stock. Good luck to Clyde in the final all a good experience for our young lads and hopefully they learned a lot from this season.. A couple of additions to the squad and next season could be decent. 

[Big Fifer]

Firstly, congrats to Clyde, couple of cup finals coming up for you now.

Secondly, Clyde are absolute muck and I'll be very surprised if Annan don't turn them over. But ultimately, if we can't beat that Clyde team over two legs we don't deserve to go up. The fact we were in the play offs after (IMO) one of the worst summer recruitments/squad build we've had in recent years was a bit of a minor miracle, if we went up this year we'd have been straight back down. 

As far as that game is concerned, we looked very comfortable first half but we really needed to get the second before half time. Trouten looked so good in the first half but second half his legs were away and he looked done in. I'll be interested to see the highlights for the red, the first yellow card it sounded like he got to the ball and the elbow we couldn't see much in it. If it was for an elbow rather than just a foul shouldn't it have been a straight red? Shepherd is good at getting centre backs rattled by continuously getting in front of them, and even better at rattling opposition fans. Once he was gone we had no focal point and it was just a waiting game frankly. McDonald was clearly keeping Trouten on for pens but you have to actually get to the penalties for him to be useful and given his legs were done in from 45 mins in that was an odd tactic. Clyde didn't look up to much even with the man advantage but we just sat back the entire time.

Ach well. Always next year.

Edited May 13, 2023 by Big Fifer

[DoingThe42]

East Fife were really good in the first half, and played the ball quickly with good movement. Clyde looked slow and clueless in comparison. I've seen EF play like that before, and my concern was that Clyde would struggle with them if their forward players were playing well. That said, Clyde made it very easy for them. A tactical disaster.

But I thought the second half things had really stabilised, even before the red card. Clyde weren't brilliant, and they never are, but I think the game was more or less even from half-time till the red card.

No idea what East Fife were complaining about. Shepherd had to go, and he'd been chucking his arms about a bit before that as well. Really daft. But also, I think EF reacted to going down to ten as poorly as I've seen from any side in a long time. They didn't handle it at all and a better side would have taken a few goals off them.

So, onto Annan. Just glad that after a shiteshow of a season Clyde still have a shot at this. More of the second half from last night and less of the first and Clyde can win it. I've seen both sides, and neither have any real reason to fear each other. Annan, for all they pumped a very hot and cold Dumbarton (so did Albion Rovers), are far from Brazil 1970.

If you'd said a few months ago that Clyde would be going into the play-off final with two defeats in eight (if we count last night as a 90 minute defeat) and having knocked out League Two's second best teams over the second half of the season (I believe), I'd have taken it. One more step to go.

Edited May 13, 2023 by DoingThe42

[Diamonds are Forever]

2 hours ago, fifer67 said:

Surely you would think rules would be the same for all the play offs only in Scotland could they come up with this our game is a laughing stock. Good luck to Clyde in the final all a good experience for our young lads and hopefully they learned a lot from this season.. A couple of additions to the squad and next season could be decent. 

 

The Championship and League One play-offs have always gone to extra-time and have been in place for 16 years now, it's only the lowland/highland League play-offs that it doesn't go to ET.

I don't see why that goes straight to penalties, it does seems weird, but it's irrelevant to the game last night going to extra-time. Moaning that after 16 years of these play-offs going to extra-time that you had to play extra-time is a bit strange.

[San Starko Rover]

50 minutes ago, Diamonds are Forever said:

 

The Championship and League One play-offs have always gone to extra-time and have been in place for 16 years now, it's only the lowland/highland League play-offs that it doesn't go to ET.

I don't see why that goes straight to penalties, it does seems weird, but it's irrelevant to the game last night going to extra-time. Moaning that after 16 years of these play-offs going to extra-time that you had to play extra-time is a bit strange.

I’d say the HL/LL playoff is actually fairer by not going to ET.  In a two legged game if it goes to extra time one team gets home advantage for 120 minutes while the other only gets home advantage for 90 minutes.