Another great report from Grant

Clyde has a soulless ground in Cumbernauld and it’s entire set up is to scam fans, excessive gate prices and two pound to park in their car park, when there is no were else to go. Clyde players are a bunch of cheating never have beens who fell to the ground at the slightest whiff of soap, feigned injury at the slightest contact and were encouraged by a referee that disgraced himself. I usually don’t like to blame referees, it’s not the most rewarding job, but this guy was being conned left, right and centre by the Clyde players. A classic example in the second half of his ineptitude was an aerial challenge between Bayne and a Clyde player. We first waved play on, then when the Clyde player complains, awarded a free kick to Clyde. Andy Cargill, who was our best player, at one stage in the second half beat three Clyde players in quick succession, at the halfway line out on the right wing, as the fourth player dived in at his shins, Andy was booked for diving. I’ve tried refereeing and it’s not that hard.

Clyde had lost its entire management team on Thursday and were always liable to be unpredictable today. A fan’s protest outside the ground looked like a bunch of Alkies waiting for Haddows to open. We kicked off towards the closed end of the ground in a 3-5-2 formation. Hinchcliffe in goal, a very flat back three of Florence, Ritchie and Rowe. Brownlie on the left, a central three McGlashan, McAulay and Cargill, with Jordan Tait on the right, made up the midfield. Colin McKinnon and Graham Bayne continued up front. Mallan, Cusick, Heenan and Wight were on the bench along with new signing Steven Moffat who replaced Mercer, hurt in the friendly at East Fife. Reports were that he seemed to lack pace on Tuesday night and he certainly looked like he was wearing a pair of Stevie Kirk’s old shorts. We survived an early scare as McAulay was beaten down the left and the ball was squared across our six-yard box. Fortunately no one was there. The game descended in to ugly, lump it up the park football. Our highlights coming from Cargill breaking and crossing down the right and McKinnon doing the same down the left. Clyde was making enough chance to win several games, but their finishing was shocking. Not as shocking as their diving, roll around on the ground and gamesmanship to prevent Arbroath from playing. The fact that the referee condones it meant that the AFC never got into the game until the last twenty minutes, when Clyde had used up all their free kick cards and it became our turn to have handballs ignored. Our best effort came when Baby got the ball back from his own throw in; his powerful drive was well wide of the goal, and only just curled inside the stand behind. Then the bizarreness happened. A Clyde player went down after the faintest of challenges by Rowe. We thought the free kick was for diving, but no, it was a penalty. Rowe and McGlashan were booked for complaining. The penalty was duly dispatched past Hinchie. Immediately, we pressed forward and won a handball decision outside the box. Baby’s freekick should have been headed home. Seconds later, a Cargill corner was met by the head of Bayne and was tipped over. It was our best chance of the game. Clyde continued to fall over their shadows and get free kicks and we weren’t showing the fight of recent games. Too many players were under performing, Ritchie never found a man with his clearances; McKinnon didn’t look up for it, and the centre back role denied us of Flo’s forward runs. Clyde deserved to be ahead in terms of possession and pressure, but their cheating was ruining the game. Half time chat was on the non-appearance of the signed football won on the official site at Gayfield when the winner went to collect it.

Two changes were made for the second half; Moffat who slotted in at centre back and Cusick replaced Brownlie and Tait. Cusick went into the centre of the midfield and allowed Flo and Cargill to move to the wide positions. I feel Andy always plays better out wide. We looked far more up for it, but the ref was still as bad. We had claims for a handball in the box from McKinnon’s ball in. Moffat’s first touch of the ball saw him drive forward and hit a useful shot on target. Then for the second time against us the Clyde keeper needed subbing off. He was unusual in the Clyde team as he just called to the bench and walked off rather than rolling on the ground in agony until the Arbroath attack was stopped then leaping to your feet and running around like a maddie. By now Andy had been booked for his supposed dive. This gave license to the Clyde players to assault him and know no foul would be given. Andy and the rest of the team seemed to be driven on by the sense of injustice and were driving them on. Many fans were worried that this would be the game that Mallan would be sent off in when he came on for McKinnon, but his battling qualities worked well, although rustiness denied him a couple of chances. The ref now changed his mind about decisions and we were getting everything. Flo won a free kick outside the box. Cargill’s cross looked too long, but Mallan’s header was cleared off the line. We kept generating pressure, but the game fizzled out. Hinchie had nothing to do the whole second half.

Steven Moffat was effective in his first game, he kept his man quiet and didn’t do anything wrong. He didn’t do anything startling, but he’s a centre half and not suppose too.
Clyde are cheats, to a man, and should be ashamed of themselves. What might have been an open and attacking game was ruined by their antics. The referee was the worse I’ve ever seen at any level of football, and was hung out to dry but two linesman that never made a decision. Arbroath deserved at least a draw on their second half performance. Just a pity about the first.

Ratings: Hinchcliffe 7; Tait 6; Florence 6; Ritchie 5; Rowe 6; Brownlie 5; McGlashan 6; McAulay 5; Cargill7; Bayne 7; McKinnon 5; Moffat 6; Cusick 6; Mallan 6

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