Halliwell
Walker Balmer Potter Mensing
Arbuckle Gibson Sheridan
Marsiglia
Harty Wilford
Dundee United rested James Grady and introduced Andy McLaren, but otherwise it was just about a full team that took the field for the Arabs:
Hirschfield
Duff McCracken Innes Archibald
Wilson Brebner McInnes Robson
McLaren McIntyre
Firstly, and I'll make this clear, Clyde were NOT four goals worse than Dundee United. United had just about their full side out, whereas Clyde were missing several key players, so a defeat was entirely predictable. Yet, for the opening half hour Clyde were the better team and Ian Harty, Darren Sheridan and Gary Arbuckle all had good chances to give Clyde the lead. However, due to Marsiglia's free role, Clyde were leaving a huge gap down their left hand side, where Mensing had to deal with two, or even three players at some points and a cross by Stuart Duff saw Jim McIntyre head home. The ex-Reading player had a similar effort minutes earlier but headed over, so Clyde can't say they weren't warned.
From then until half time, it was a case of trying to hold on to a 1-0 deficit. Bryn Halliwell made two absolutely stunning stops from Robson and then from McIntyre's header when he clawed it back from the line after a close range header. However, Clyde then got caught on the break after mounting a bit of pressure on the United backline, and again it came down our left. After Halliwell made another superb stop from McIntyre, Sheridan failed to clear and Robson fired home an excellent effort from 25 yards.
After the break, Clyde changed Arbuckle to the left hand side, so not surprisingly, the next goal came down the other side, where there was now a gaping hole with Archibald and Robson outnumbering Alex Walker. With Clyde's midfield sitting very deep, Robson had time and his drilled cross was headed home by Brebner with Halliwell just failing to stop it.
Mark Wilson's freekick was then brilliantly stopped by Halliwell but from the resulting corner, the ball was handled by Stuart Balmer and Wilson slotted the penalty home comfortably. After that, Clyde changed to a straight 442 after introducing Craig Bryson and Graham McCracken, for Jimmy Gibson and Marsiglia and Clyde then defended reasonably well until the end of the game, although Bryn again had a couple of good stops. Indeed, Clyde kept battling and Harty and McCracken both had efforts well stopped by Hirschfield.
In the end, the lack of leftsided players cost Clyde. Simon isn't at his best playing at leftback and was badly exposed in the first half due to another formation blunder. Marsiglia looked better than Saturday, some of his passes were dreadfully short of their targets however but his touch was extremely good at times. Worryingly for Clyde, there were times in the 2nd half when our defence was ahead of our midfield, a recipe for disaster at any level, but especially against a good footballing side.
Plus points for Clyde were Halliwell; who was outstanding, Alex Walker who marked Robson out of the game until the end of the 1st half, as well as showing plenty of desire to get a consolation goal in the second. Definitely his best game for Clyde. Arbuckle was also good, and caused SPL quality defenders plenty of problems. Sheridan wasn't bad either. The two youngsters, Bryson and McCracken, both did well as substitutes and the experience should help them.
Aron Wilford was poor, but it's not surprising given the abuse he gets from the stands. His effort is admirable but his touch was shockingly poor, and he gets knocked off the ball easily for such a big lad. Balmer looked well short of match fitness and Jimmy Gibson gets worse by the game.
Dundee United weren't that impressive, but in Barry Robson they had the best player on the pitch. Alex Walker dealt pretty well with him for long periods, but his corners and crosses are outstanding. Like all Ian McCall sides, they played some decent stuff, but weren't scared to put the boot (or the elbow in David McCracken's case) in.
Still, I'm not too downhearted by the result. We were without key players in Malone, Bollan and Wilson and Gilhaney/Conway not being on the bench didn't help either. It could have been a lot worse, we could've been supporting Falkirk the other night. The Bairns are Clyde's next opponents, and both will need to bounce back from crushing defeats.