Clyde 0-2 Queen of the South

Sep 28 2008 Brian Welsh At Broadwood

First Division

GARY ARBUCKLE returned to his old club and helped dish out a first home defeat of the season to Clyde - to set up a top-of-the-table clash against Livingston on Saturday. Arbuckle nabbed his first goal for the Doonhamers and Stephen Dobbie added a second in four second-half minutes to seal a first away win of the season.

The victory saw Queens leapfrog Partick Thistle in to second place and goal hero Gary can't wait for Livi to come calling.

Arbuckle said: "The main thing was to keep the pressure on Livingston and we now have them at our place on Saturday.

"I was delighted to get my first goal but just happy to get the three points - it doesn't really matter who scores.

"I'm still friends with a lot of the Clyde boys and some of them were good enough to say 'well done' after the game."

Queens started with just four of the players who were on the pitch when the 2008 Scottish Cup Final kicked off, showing the strength in depth Gordon Chisholm now has.

Arbuckle, who began on the left wing and finished up front, added: "We have a really big squad and I'm loving it.

"I can only hope we have half as good a season as last year.

"I prefer to play on the right but I'll play anywhere the manager tells me."

Clyde edged the first half but without top scorer Pat Clarke did not threaten.

David McKay came close in seven minutes after a smart one two with Gary McSwegan then a fierce angled drive that Cammy Bell palmed to safety.

Arbuckle fired over six minutes later with Queens' first chance but the home side responded when Ricky Waddell whipped in a stunning cross but there were no takers.

Clyde suffered a blow nine minutes from half-time when defender Billy Gibson limped off after playing every minute of every game this season.

On-loan Rangers midfielder Paul Emslie tried a cheeky 50- yard strike soon after the restart but Bell back-pedalled to catch the ball on his six-yard line.

Just as Chisholm looked set to make a change his side upped the tempo and killed the game inside four minutes.

First the Clyde defence failed to clear Dobbie's 54th-minute cross and Arbuckle sidefooted the ball past Paul Cherrie after a composed first touch.

It was game over soon after when on his full Queens debut Stephen Simmons fired in a cross that another ex-Clyde man Michael McGowan headed down for Dobbie to stab home.

John Brown responded by sacrificing substitute defender Mark Brown for Alan Trouten.

But Queens could have won by more and Craig Sives was denied a rare goal when ref Mike McCurry ruled he had pushed while nodding in a Rob Harris free-kick. Sub Neil McFarlane had a shot stopped by Cherrie and the keeper tipped a late Arbuckle header on to the bar.

Queens boss Chisholm said: "Playing Gary and Michael was never far from my mind because you always want to go back to your old club and prove they were wrong to let you go.

"Gary gives us something different and they both did well.

"We have good quality up front now so if we don't score early we know to just keep going. To be fair to Clyde they put a lot in to the first half but once we scored twice it was never really in doubt."

The Bully Wee faithful will be praying talisman Clarke shakes off a calf strain in time to face Dunfermline next weekend.

Boss Brown said: "Billy was a major loss and being without Clarke was also a big factor.

"It's very early in the season with so much to play for and we still have a lot of belief in our dressing-room."

MoM: McGowan (QOS)