Gavin Swankie's absense proved that Rae really meant it when he said he'd picked each starting 11 on who he'd think would win each game. O'Brien was given his first start in the league to prove what he could do. Zemlic joined Davidson upfront, the rest of the team picked itself.
Samson
Worrell McKenzie Palenik Dixon
Daquin Robertson McDonald O'Brien
Zemlic Davidson
We started terribly; a wind assisted corner from the left took the slightest touch of Higgins to find the bottom corner with Daquin unable to clear off the line. In truth, it may have gone in direct from the corner. It was poorly dealt with regardless. Nearly all of Clyde's best moments in the first half came through our backline's inablity to handle high wind assisted ball, often resulting in slapstick defending.
We pretty much went on to dominate the remainder of the game. McDonalds low ball in was flicked past the keeper by Palenik but was cleared off the line before Davidson dispossessed a Clyde defender on the edge of his own box to send McDonald clean through but he struck his shot wide of the near post with just the keeper to beat.
24 minutes and Clyde go down to 10 men. Cairdie who was daftly booked earlier for a dive snapped McDonald and was instantly sent packing. As for the referee, anyone who knows me will know how I like to refrain from the tedium of slagging of refs. This fact should tell you how bad Boyle was today. Garbage. Whistle happy to point that he nearly ruined the game. Whenever Zemlic jumped for the ball, you could be sure the whistle would've blown by the time he landed.
McDonald limped off before half time to be replaced by McHale who was booed on by Clyde fans.
Half time - very frustrating but the belief was there that if we stayed patient the goals would come.
Second half, Zemlic goes off at half time after annoying everyone in the stadium. Lyle comes on for his first league action of the season.
We pushed on from the start until finally things changed.
51 minutes, the breakthrough. McHale sprinted from deep to charge down a Clyde defender (as he had been doing all day) to steal the ball and literally pass it home from 25 yards. Classy finish but the keeper should've been quicker to get down to it. McHale ran over to the 1000 strong Dark Blue Army to celebrate. Always a good move.
63 minutes and the game was effectively over. Daquins corner landed just behind Davidson in the six yard box before breaking to O'Brien who, after a largely ineffective first half was finding much more joy in the second. His 10 yard shot made its way through a ruck of players to find the net with the aid of a deflection.
Disappointingly, we sat back a bit after that although still had chances to get a third through terrific solo efforts from Robertson and Palenik, who gets classier by the week.
Clyde, who had become so used to defending deep, didn't really know what to do when they went behind although some high balls into box late on did cause some problems. In truth, they didn't have a decent chance all day.
Summary - We made hard work of an easy win. Still, we grafted away when we needed to and continued to pass the ball in difficult conditions. Davidson should start every week.
MOTM - Take your pick from Palenik, Worrell and McHale.