Clyde 1-1 Dundee

Jan 20 2008 Ewan Smith At Broadwood

DUNDEE gaffer Alex Rae insists the day will come when managers are doing their work from the stands after THREE coaches were sent-off during an ill-tempered game at Broadwood that saw the Taysiders move within two points of leaders Hamilton.

The Dark Blues boss, already serving a six-game ban, was joined in the stand by his No.2 Davie Farrell and caretaker Clyde coaches Dougie Bell and Gary Bollan as the action boiled over on the sidelines.

Bell got his marching orders for protesting against referee Steve Conroy's refusal to play advantage as Dougie Imrie raced clear in 70 minutes, with Bollan and Farrell following him up the tunnel five minutes later.

They got involved in a scuffle over the ball and were harshly sent packing before a stormy encounter ended with Milan Palenik rescuing a point for Dundee in the final minute following Gary Arbuckle's 72nd-minute opener.

And Rae, miffed by Conroy's display, said: "Some of the referee's decisions were strange. I don't think there was much in the incident when Davie was sent off.

"He was just trying to get the ball back off Gary but ended up in the stand for doing that. It's going to get to the stage where there is a row of coaches sitting up there every game."

Clyde coach Bell said: "I protested over the decision not to play on and the assistant referee reported me. But the incident involving Gary and Davie Farrell was a joke. They were just wrestling over the ball, nothing else."

While Bell is rarely in the limelight, it's not the first time Rae has hit out at the officiating of Dundee games, following his outburst at ref John McKendrick two weeks ago.

But his frustration was entirely understandable after a game that was ruined by Conroy's constant whistle-blowing and hardline approach.

It was a game that exploded into life in the end but was desperately poor during an awful first half.

The boggy marsh that was Broadwood survived an earlymorning pitch inspection as Clyde played their first game since the shock resignation of boss Colin Hendry on Friday night.

He has quit on compassionate grounds, to care for his sick dad and wife Denise, and was replaced in the dugout by Bell and Bollan - who is tipped to takeover from the Scotland legend.

Clyde were superbly organised by the stand-in pairing but created next to nothing during the first 45 minutes.

Dundee weren't much better. What attacking they did was limited to touchline runs by Freddie Daquin and excellent set-piece deliveries by Eddie Malone.

It was the latter who came closest to opening the scoring in 20 minutes when his corner deceived everyone except home keeper David Hutton who clutched the ball just under his bar.

Malone tried his luck again from 35 yards - but this time his tamely-struck effort did little to trouble the Clyde No.1.

Dundee's next chance to open the scoring came when Jani Sturm got on the end of a Scott Robertson cross but Hutton made a superb save.

The second period was more eventful as Clyde began to venture forward, driven on by Steven Masterton.

The midfielder saw two long-range efforts go close in the space of five minutes - firstly firing over from 30 yards then shooting wide of Craig Samson's goal.

Then came the first red card for the coaches as Bell raced down the touchline in protest over Conroy's decision to call play back for a Paul McHale foul on Arbuckle, with Imrie bearing down on goal.

But his anger was short-lived as Arbuckle pounced on a poor Craig Samson clearance to drill home from 15 yards.

Farrell and Bollan followed Bell into the stand five minutes later after a fight over the ball before Palenik nodded in a Bob Davidson cross to make it 1-1 and close the gap on Hamilton.

MoM: Malone (Dundee)