Clyde v Airdrieonians

Recap

Clyde’s winless run extended to five matches after a miserable defeat to Airdrieonians at New Douglas Park.

Jim Duffy made a triple change from last weekend’s visit to Alloa Athletic with Brian McLean, Darren Hynes and the injured Rico Quitongo paving the way for Jon Craig, Ryan McGeever and Ross Cunningham.

It was an electrifying start for the visitors as they opened the scoring after two minutes on the clock. McGill took advantage of a loose ball at the edge of the box and drove forward to knock the ball past Neil Parry after he lost his footing.

However, their lead was short lived as the Bully Wee equalised in the ninth minute, courtesy of a first Clyde goal from Kyle Doherty. Cameron Salkeld latched onto Kurtis Robert’s corner kick and threaded the ball to Doherty, who calmly nutmegged Rae to dispatch it in the net.

The Diamonds regained their lead five minutes later after McCabe picked out Devenny from a corner, who was suitably positioned to drill the ball beyond Parry from the edge of the box.

As the match reached the half hour mark, both teams created opportunities at each end of the pitch. Salkeld gained possession in the middle of the park to sprint forward and catapult an effort at goal, which flew over the bar. At the other end, Frizzell reacted well to Smith’s cross, only for his shot to be cleared.

The Diamonds doubled their advantage in the 37th minute after Parry dived low to save a deflected shot, but McGill was on hand quickest to prod home the rebound.

Despite falling two goals behind, the hosts came agonisingly close to an instant response. Martin Rennie picked out Doherty’s cross and manoeuvred the ball to Ross Cunningham at the centre of the box, but his effort was saved by Rae.

Proceedings were tightly contested after the restart with Doherty coming the closest to testing the opponent’s defence in the 52nd minute as he worked his way into the box, but he was blocked by Ballantyne.

It wasn’t until the 69th minute that the Diamond’s broke The Bully Wee’s resolve to convert their fourth. Frizzell received McGill’s pass on the corner of the box and he curled an unstoppable effort into the top corner of Parry’s goal.

The visitors consistently hemmed The Bully Wee into their own half and heaped further misery on the hosts with a fifth goal in the 89th minute. Callum Smith latched onto Stanway’s touch to fire a low strike into the net.