‘It’s been a kind of freakish season’

TO have a game postponed in the middle of March because of snow is par for the course in what has been a ‘freakish’ season says Clyde boss Jim Duffy.

Saturday saw the Bully Wee’s tie with East Stirling at Broadwood called off after a 10am pitch inspection found the surface yet again buried under a white blanket.

Duffy said: “Obviously in a part-time situation you want the game to go ahead at the weekend. A postponement means another mid-week game and we don’t really have any left so it’ll have to be crammed in somewhere.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“It’s been a kind of freakish season anyway – from November onwards there’s been rain or snow every week causing disruption.”

And it’s that inclement weather which had Clyde making the long journey north last night to face Elgin City, a tie originally scheduled for Boxing Day.

Duffy continued: “It means the players have to try and get a holiday from work or take a half-day. It’s difficult when you get a situation like that, they might not all be able to get the time off.

“It’s not only the journey up there, it’s the trip back which is worse and you’re not getting home until the early hours of the morning.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“When you look at the games we’ve got to come, we’ve got a few trips to do because the games were called off. These things catch up with you after a while.”

Clyde have a much smaller trip to make on Saturday to face Albion Rovers in Coatbridge.

Duffy added: “We’ve obviously played them fairly recently and I thought they were strong on the night and since then I think they’ve won three in a row.

“They’re very organised but I don’t think there’s much between the teams. But the problem is we’ve got our fair share of injuries and I don’t think other teams are missing as many key players as we are.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“I’m on my fifth right-back in eight games. That gives an indication of the injuries we’ve had. Things like that don’t help with consistency and, at the back, you need consistency.

“We can feel a bit hard done to but you just have to roll up your sleeves and keep working to improve things.”

Despite last night’s 350 mile round trip on the A9, Duffy believes those in charge of the game did the right thing earlier this season by throwing out plans to regionalise the lower divisions in Scotland.

He said: “I don’t think it would be feasible. I think when you look at the relegation and promotion aspect of it then it really complicates matters. You would end up with sections with different numbers of teams.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“From a personal point of view, if you’re having to travel far I would like to see them pairing the teams who are the biggest distance apart to play between July and October.

“That would let you play them on a Saturday when the weather shouldn’t be an issue. That would get that out of the way then. But again, that’s obviously difficult to do.”