Peterhead manager Jim McInally admitted that his heart sank when he saw Clyde goalkeeper Neil Parry pull off a wonder save to deny Andrew McCarthy his first ever goal only for the midfielder to net seconds later.
McCarthy who has been with the Blue Toon since January 2020 has long been teased by his team-mates (and others) about his failure to find the net after similar dry spells at his previous clubs Partick Thistle and Queen of the South. Just five minutes in Saturday’s 3-2 success over the Bully Wee it looked like the 22 year old was going to draw a blank again as Jim explained: “Firstly I have to praise Clyde’s goalkeeper Neil Parry for an outstanding save from Derek Lyle. Derek’s header from Ryan Conroy’s cross looked a goal all the way until Neil made a great stop.”
“The ball went into the air and Andy got a good header on it. That looked in all the way as well but Neil made another fantastic stop. I turned to my assistant David Nicholls and said ‘that’s it there is no more that Andrew can do, he is never going to score.”
“The ball got cleared and Scott Brown set Hamish Ritchie free on the left. He sent in a low cross and there was Andrew to turn it over the line. Everyone was delighted for him and when you watch the goal back you can see the run that he makes to reach Hamish’s cross, it is the run of an experienced goalscorer, so there is more to come from him.”
“I know he was really pleased and that his brother has a recording of Jeff Stelling announcing his goal so that will something special for him to watch.”
Jim added: “Whilst the goal was a real highlight for Andrew, how he and the team played was the highlight for me. We were pegged back shortly afterwards from a soft penalty however we responded well to that with tow great goals. Clyde changed things about to go after us in attack as they felt we would get nervous about holding on to a lead.”
“They threw a lot at us and we lost Andy to injury and then Simon Ferry, who had dropped into defence to help protect things, but everyone held firm and stopped Clyde threatening too much. We will take the win and move on.”
