CFC Owners

The Bully Wee staged a late rally but came away without any points from their Betfred Cup Group F match with Airdrieonians at Hamilton this afternoon.

Danny Lennon made two changes to the side which lost to Hamilton Accies on Wednesday evening, with Mark Lamont and Chris McStay replacing Kieran Duffie and Tony Wallace.

Clyde started on the front foot but failed to seriously test David Hutton in the Airdrie goal, with an effort from Darren Smith going narrowly over the crossbar the closet they came.

The Diamonds started to come more into the game and David Mitchell had to stretch to tip an effort from Nat Wedderburn over his bar.

The visitors were awarded a penalty in the 34th minute when referee Steven McLean judged that Ray Grant handled a cross into the box. Ally Roy stepped up and sent Mitchell the wrong way from the spot.

Moments later Darren Smith raced clear of the Airdrie defence with only Hutton to beat, but had his shirt pulled on the edge of the box by Josh Kerr. McLean surprisingly deemed that only a yellow card would be a suitable punishment, and a couple of minutes later Airdrie doubled their advantage. A well worked free-kick into the box allowed Adam Eckersley to smash the ball into the top corner.

Airdrie extended their lead just before the hour mark after Chris McStay was caught in possession. The Diamonds quickly countered and Roy was left with the simple task of stroking the ball into the net.

Danny Lennon introduced Tony Wallace, David Goodwillie and Ross Lyon from the bench and the trio put in impressive cameos as The Bully Wee began to raise the tempo. 

McLean awarded Clyde a penalty after Sean Crighton fouled Goodwillie with a quarter of an hour remaining. The striker dusted himself down and blasted the ball down the centre of the goal.

The Bully Wee pulled another back with five to go and it was Goodwillie who was on target again. Chris Johnston (pictured) floated a cross into the box and Goodwillie read it well and beat the Airdrie defenders to nod the ball home.

Clyde spent the remaining minutes almost exclusively in the Airdrie half in search of an equaliser to send the game to penalties but were unable to find it, with Craig Howie having a goalbound shot blocked by a defender, whilst Lyon was unable to direct a stoppage time header from close range on target.