Despite further compelling evidence to the contrary — from a watertight defence, creative midfield and potent front two — Reid claimed: “We are still looking down, rather than up. The way I see it, we’re now 11 points clear of Raith Rovers at the bottom.” That may have been an understandable outlook in the summer, as Alan Kernaghan’s side was being summarily dismantled, but the way the remaining rump of players have gelled with Reid’s astute recruits suggests that the Broadwood outfit has been grossly underestimated.
After his stellar performance against Ross County, all eyes were on Karim Kerkar, Clyde’s loan signing, but any scouts present were disappointed as the little Algerian hobbled off after 15 minutes. Despite that setback, Clyde dominated the opening quarter. Ian Harty almost gave them the lead inside five minutes when he latched onto Simon Mensing’s raking pass. But, one-on-one with Colin Scott, the home goalkeeper, he forced only a corner, from which his frustration was compounded as his toe-poke found the post.
Aron Wilford, Harty’s strike partner, was heavily involved, too, but it was Aaron Conway, Kerkar’s replacement playing just behind the attack, who had a big hand in Clyde’s 20th-minute opener. Wilford, in space on the right, crossed for Conway whose header forced a goal-line clearance from Jim Thomson, and Harty was on hand to bundle home. Conway, on loan from Dundee United until January, only signed on Friday but looks another fine Reid recruit.
Queen of the South gradually came into the game and David McNiven forced a couple of good saves from Bryn Halliwell and saw a header fly narrowly over. Clyde, meawhile, almost killed the game off before the break with a cultured move down the right, involving Darren Sheridan and Harty. It culminated in a Craig Bryson header which Scott miraculously tipped over.
After the break Clyde were content to sit on their lead in the hope of picking them off on the counter. As a unit, the hosts lacked the guile to undermine Clyde’s three-man defence and, consequently, were reliant on solo efforts by McNiven and Tom English to threaten Halliwell. In truth, Clyde looked more likely to score a second, and Gary Arbuckle, the substitute, saw his rasping long-range drive superbly saved by Scott.
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Only in the final 20 minutes did the hosts crank up the pressure. Halliwell, however, coped admirably with a succession of testing crosses and pulled off a stunning reaction save when his defence for once switched off to grant McNiven space in the box.
STAR MAN: Aaron Conway
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Queen of the South: Scott 8; Burns 6, Thomson 6, Reid 5, English 6; McColligan 5, Bagan 6 (Payne 36min 6), Bowey 6, McLaughlin 6; Armstrong 4, McNiven 7
Clyde: Halliwell 7; Mensing 6, Potter 6, Bollan 6; Walker 6 (Gilhaney 75min 6), Gibson 6, Sheridan 7, Bryson 6; Kerkar 6 (Conway 15min 8); Wilford 7 (Arbuckle 62min 6), Harty 6
Scorer: Clyde: Harty 20
Booked: Burns (45min), Sheridan (56min), Thomson (56min), Harty (82min), English (90min)
Referee: C Boyle
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Attendance: 1,639