Clyde vs Dumbarton

[squeezebox-son]

At no point today did any of our players, manager, coaches etc... look like they thought we could get anything from the match. The teams confidence appears to be at an all time low and so many just kept chucking it when they lost the ball.

Farrell seemed bothered by the shouts towards him, at times, but what does he expect? He is so deluded when it comes to facing upto things. We are regressing, rapidly and are in a really bad place. He is the primary cause of that. We are so chaotic and, why is it that, we can see things that he either cannot or chooses to ignore?

I can see the pressure mounting from fans, with the exception of the happy clapping crew, in the coming weeks. It will be interesting to see how he defends himself after that today.

[Jan Vojáček]

I said on our thread, but I'll repeat it here, that I thought 2-0 actually flattered us. 3-0 with Jordan Allan getting a goal rather than a second booking in stoppage time would've been fair on the balance of play - and his performance as a whole. Which was very good.

I didn't have a great feeling about the team when I saw Div Wilson, Blair Malcolm and Jinky Hilton all starting. And Finlay Gray on the bench. He might be extremely frustrating at times, especially when he doesn't pass the ball. But on a wide open pitch he's exactly what you need to go box-to-box. The three who started really lack legs, and Cammy Ballantyne ran the show from central midfield for the Bully Wee as a result.

Clyde started better than us. They looked like a team with the bit between their teeth; determined to make something happen. We looked half-arsed. All over the park. It was a shrug your shoulders and wrinkle your nose performance all day from far too many.

The opening goal was a decent strike from Martin Rennie. But it seemed to go in, in slow motion. He opened up the space around Gallagher Lennon far too easily, and (in real time at least) it felt like Jay Hogarth should've saved it.

Hogarth did make a couple of very good saves after that to his credit. He played fairly well, but he's just nowhere near Brett Long's levels. And I think our drop-off since Brett broke his ankle tells a story. He's a class act and miles too good for this division; and now he's out we're really seeing just how vital he is to us.

Getting to half-time at 1-0 was probably a better result for us than Clyde given their dominance. The double change clearly spoke volumes about what Faz thought of the showing, but we basically remained in the same formation. Finlay in the #10 in place of Hilton and Blair replacing Malcolm like-for-like.

Given Clyde were dominant, I thought we might've tried switching things up a wee bit. There was nothing really to lose given how poor the first-half was.

Our biggest threat comes down the right with Carlo and Kalvin. And that was the case all game. But when it doesn't go down that side we don't really offer much. It's just balls shelled into the channel for the tireless Michael Ruth to chase, hold up and then eventually lose as support wanders up at their own pace.

Aaron Healy was quiet and, aside from a nice cross in the first-half and a few wee touches here and there, contributed very little. But we only got him one v one with his full-back once all game. Everything else either went into the channels or slowly worked its way right before the move fizzled out.

Brian Kinnear in the Clyde goal made a terrific save in the first-half from Healy after a really good move (down the right). But that was basically all of note he had to deal with in the entire afternoon. 

Jinky Hilton's performance was one for the ages; I don't think I can ever remember seeing a player caught on the ball in his own half so many times. It was like nicking sweets from a kid for the Clyde midfield. He wanted time and space. But they afforded him neither.

Even Cian Newbury, who had a very good first-half, looked spooked after being robbed by Jordan Allan for a chance early in the second-half. And didn't seem to recover. It's the first time he's looked like an inexperienced kid, albeit he was still probably one of our better performers over the 90. He was the only player consistently passing forwards and into good areas in the first-half, and I really do admire his bravery on the ball.

When we conceded the second goal (a penalty in the second phase of a corner that we didn't deal with) it became a real rabble. Newbury seemed to pop up at left-wing and centre-mid for a bit. Carlo floated all over the park. We committed bodies forward, but then didn't use them. It was a desperate mess without anything to give you hope.

The stats don't lie. The wheels have now well and truly fallen off and, unless we get our act together quickly, then I can see us failing to make the playoffs. Nothing really feels like it's going to change soon either, which is the most alarming thing. We haven't dominated a game since Forfar 10 days before Christmas. And next Saturday is our final game of February.

I don't want to be disingenuous to Clyde though. I thought, from 1 to 11, they were much better all over the park than us. They looked more up for it, they were organised, they managed the game well. It was a very solid performance. The sort of thing you'd expect the team in fourth to do to the team in 10th.

Jordan Allan led the line very well and caused us plenty of problems. With his silly second booking the result of frustration at his own finishing I'd suspect. Cammy Ballantyne dictated the whole game from the middle of the park, and both Lee Hamilton and Craig Howie were imperious at the back. Martin Rennie is a player I've always quite liked (even if he looks like he'll drive you mad) and he was a handful for us, especially when he drifted wide and played off Gallagher Lennon.

I've fancied Clyde to stay up since McCall did his January business. Avoiding 10th might now be a stretch, but those players and that manager are capable of winning the playoffs. No doubt about it in my eyes.

If it's EK then I hope you sword them. If it's Brechin then, to be honest, I'd rather a trip to Glebe Park than NDP next season. But I hope you can understand that it's nothing personal, purely the business of where provides the better away day.

Edited February 17 by Jan Vojáček

[FifeSons]

4 minutes ago, squeezebox-son said:

Farrell seemed bothered by the shouts towards him, at times,

I’m delighted to hear that, because the results and performances sure as hell don’t seem bother him one bit. You could tell it really stung him when he got it after Annan last season.

[squeezebox-son]

17 minutes ago, FifeSons said:

I’m delighted to hear that, because the results and performances sure as hell don’t seem bother him one bit. You could tell it really stung him when he got it after Annan last season.

Some folk have mentioned it, he seems a decent guy. But he is deluded. It's mental that, I think he actually believes we can turn this around. But why can't he see that all but 1 (maybe 2) of our January recruitment's aren't up to this level of football? Boys like Healy, Kelly and Lennon are not ready for this level yet. Hogarth is yet to convince me, even though he is a fair upgrade on Broun.

Perhaps we were just spoiled by having Brett as our number 1 but it's hard to take the drop in our defensive solidity since we lost Brett and that was after already losing Durnan.

Time for Farrell to go.

[David W]

Given Dumbarton's undoubted strength is down their right, I thought King (after the first five minutes) put in as good a performance at left back as any Clyde player in years (very little competition for that admittedly). I also thought that Cameron did a much better job supporting him than Kabia, even if it was a bizarre substitution.

I'm his biggest critic but Allan had a great game today, he benefitted from the better distribution from full back and Ballantyne's energy. I thought he was a bit unlucky for the red card but his first yellow was beyond stupid.

Leitch has to be starting.

Not getting my hopes up but we will definitely know either way over the next few games. Forfar twice, Elgin and Bonnyrigg, along with a trip to Stenny.

It's a shame Dumbarton aren't a wee bit closer as they look done for the season.

[Bullyweeno1]

Firstly, thought the ref was very poor today.  He handed out loads of bookings , to both sides, when there wasn’t any need

As other have said.  Don’t know why McGinn wasn’t brought on and King pushed 1 forward.  Playing Cameron is akin to playing with 10 players.  Don’t know what any of his Clyde managers see in him.  He must be a star in training as he is absolutely woeful in game time and haven’t seen him offer anything in any game he has played.

Surprising how different fans see things as thought we were holding onto things and playing too deep for large parts of the game

However glad for the 3 points and the clean sheet (when did we last get one of them)

Let’s get another 3 points on Tuesday and make things interesting

 

 

[Clyde1235]

27 minutes ago, Bullyweeno1 said:

Firstly, thought the ref was very poor today.  He handed out loads of bookings , to both sides, when there wasn’t any need

As other have said.  Don’t know why McGinn wasn’t brought on and King pushed 1 forward.  Playing Cameron is akin to playing with 10 players.  Don’t know what any of his Clyde managers see in him.  He must be a star in training as he is absolutely woeful in game time and haven’t seen him offer anything in any game he has played.

Surprising how different fans see things as thought we were holding onto things and playing too deep for large parts of the game

However glad for the 3 points and the clean sheet (when did we last get one of them)

Let’s get another 3 points on Tuesday and make things interesting

 

 

Would of been the forfar 0-0 (if talking league)

[microdave]

6 minutes ago, Clyde1235 said:

Would of been the forfar 0-0 (if talking league)

Mods.

[Bullyweeno1]

6 minutes ago, Clyde1235 said:

Would of been the forfar 0-0 (if talking league)

So a while ago

[BullyWeeStonehouse]

A surprise and very welcome win for us. Can we do what we’ve not done all season, or probably decade and win two in a row?!

Tuesday is a huge game.