The Thistle Archive

James Cairney, 18-Oct-2020, Evening Times

Thistle were the dominant team during the game’s opening exchanges, controlling the ball and probing for a way through their opponents’ defence while Clyde relied on their shape to keep them at bay. The hosts grew into the game though, and it wasn’t long before they were asking a few questions themselves. Krystoffer Syvertsen was a threat down the right and was on the receiving end of a few crunching tackles while David Goodwillie had to be closely marshalled by the Thistle centre-backs. It was a first half with no shortage of industry from either side but with a conspicuous lack of guile in the final third. With half-time approaching though, the game burst into life. Salim Kouider-Aissa really should have broken the deadlock when Joe Cardle picked him out at the near post but the striker’s downward header whistled past the woodwork and moments later, only a superb stop from Jamie Sneddon kept Goodwillie’s half-volley at bay.

The same man went close after the restart after bursting clear of the Thistle defence but couldn’t find a way past Sneddon as Clyde gained the upper hand. Syvertsen struck the outside of the post with a powerful shot from close range as the Bully Wee began to turn the screw, but Thistle were still in the game and asking questions of their opponents. With the scores still level, Kouider-Aissa somehow failed to give his side the lead with 25 minutes to go; Spittal’s free-kick on the right was flicked onto the post by Ross Docherty and the ball bounced invitingly for the striker, but he contrived to head it over from two yards out. The striker took a boot to the face while lunging for the ball, and was taken to hospital for treatment for a broken nose. Then, minutes later, the breakthrough arrived for Clyde. Sneddon’s outstretched leg denied Goodwillie as the striker raced through on goal but the ball rebounded to Love, who rifled the ball into the bottom far corner.

The visitors threw men forward desperately in search of an equaliser but it would never arrive. Chris Johnston and Goodwillie both went close to doubling their side’s lead late on but both were denied by impressive stops from Sneddon. After three seasons of despair, disappointment and defeat, the first league fixture of the new campaign was seen by fans as a chance for Thistle to turn over a new leaf. In the end, though, it was simply more of the same.

Clyde manager Danny Lennon was delighted to watch his side get the new season off to a perfect start by seeing off promotion hopefuls Partick Thistle with a 1-0 victory:

It was absolutely fantastic. First and foremost it was a very valuable three points against the local rivals and in my opinion, probably the league favourites. Credit to Partick Thistle, they’re a good quality side. You could see where their strengths lay. They had a good bit of possession at times but I thought we contained them well. We were fantastic without the ball.

Jags boss Ian McCall, meanwhile, said the result was a fair reflection of the game:

Clyde deserved to win and we need to do better. You can see the celebrations of the Clyde players – it was a big game for them and we’ve got to treat it as the same. I can’t take anything away from Clyde. We struggled in the final third. We got the ball into decent areas at times but we just didn’t produce.

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