Clyde 2, Cowdenbeath 0.

Ladbrokes League 2

Attendance-563

A VERY poor first-half performance cost Cowdenbeath the chance of making a mark in their league opener.

The Blue Brazil hardly had a shot at goal in the first period and fell two goals behind in the first 25 minutes and it looked all over at the break.

However, in the second period it was a a different story and the fact that the match stats showed the percentage possession showed up as 50-50, meant that the Blues had more than 60 per cent of the ball after the interval.

But a mixture of good goalkeeping and poor shooting saw them record a blank.

The midfield area was the real problem in the opening 45 minutes.

Clyde were able to dominate the ball at will and they had several chances apart from the two goals the scored.

Cowdenbeath should have scored at least one after the break but they were denied by two fantastic saves.

Blair Malcolm, Robbie Buchanan and Brad Smith just never got up to speed in the first 45.

Inside the first ten minutes Martin McNiff had a header go just wide before Chris McStay’s shot was blocked by Jamie Pyper, then David Goodwillie’s shot was well saved by Dave McGurn.

Cowden were struggling to get a foothold and in 25 minutes the home side went ahead.

Jordan Stewart’s ball into the box was perfect for McNIFF to send a looping header over McGurn.

Then three minutes later things got worse for the visitors. Chris McStay went down in the Cowdenbeath box and the referee pointed to the spot and GOODWILLIE fired home the penalty kick.

Cowden just could not get going at all and the Bully Wee had other chances before the break to put the game out of sight with the best of these being a Mark Lamont shot which was blocked by David Marsh.

The Blues came out for the second period a lot livelier although Goodwillie had another go for Clyde, before Sheerin’s shot was brilliantly finger tipped over by Blair Currie, then the ‘keeper did well to keep a Buchanan shot out.

The attacking midfielder was starting to pose real problems for Clyde and his low shot was brilliantly held by the diving Currie.

It was the home side who were struggling now but Cowdenbeath just could not get the goal they needed and slowly the Bully Wee came back into the game.

In 83 minutes Goodwillie showed his menace, after being well out of the picture, by hitting the post from an acute angle.

Cowdenbeath kept working hard but they simply paid for their awful first-half performance.

Clyde: Currie (8); Cuddihy (6), Stewart (7); McNiff (7), Rumsby (7), Grant (7); Lamont (6) (Boyle 86 (3)), Rankin (7), Goodwillie (7), McStay (7), Love (6) (Cogill 90 (2)). Subs not used, Gorman, Millar and Hughes.

Cowdenbeath: Dave McGurn (7); Fraser Mullen (6), Jason Talbot (6) (Harvey Swann 73 (3)); Jamie Pyper (7), David Marsh (6), Blair Malcolm (6); David Cox (6), Robbie Buchanan (7), Jordyn Sheerin (6), Kris Renton (6) (Kyle Miller 59 (3)), Brad Smith (6). Subs not used, Pat Scullion, Harris Kay, Bryan Gilfillan, Mark Fotheringham and Ryan Goodfellow.

Referee-Duncan Smith (6).