Derby delight for Love
Clyde Partick Thistle
CLYDE supporters have been waiting for over a decade to meet their local rivals Partick Thistle on league duty and when the derby was finally rekindled on Saturday afternoon, fans of the Bully Wee were left with plenty to celebrate come the final whistle.
The Jags – tipped by many as League One favourites – were met with a stubborn, hard- working Clyde team and Ian McCall’s men often toiled in the final third. For their part, the hosts were dogged and determined and courtesy of Ali Love’s second- half strike, deserved winners. It was a victory that has been a long time coming for Danny Lennon’s team.
The match winner says the manager had drilled into his players just how big an occasion this was for supporters and even if they were not allowed in the ground, they would be cheering on their team passionately from home.
“It’s a great start,” Love said.
“I know it’s the first league game but it’s a bit more important that it’s a derby.
“It’s good to get off to a flyer and get three points on the board but it’s even better to win the first derby of the season. We knew how much it meant to the fans, the club, everyone. There was a bit of pressure going into it.
“It’s strange not having the atmosphere and the fans behind you but we knew that as long as we set the tempo and worked hard, we would create our own atmosphere. We knew everybody watching from home was behind us. The gaffer read out a message before the game that hit home how much it meant to everybody.”
Love added that he was delighted to become the first man in a long time to score the winning goal in a league meeting between the two Lanarkshire sides – and added that while the result was representative, perhaps the scoreline wasn’t.
He said: “It’s amazing. I’ve scored a few important goals for the club so long may that continue. Everyone in that dressing room deserves credit because to a man, we were brilliant. “To be honest, I think 1- 0 flattered them towards the end. That’s no disrespect to Thistle but if it was two or three towards the end, no one would have batted an eyelid.”