Clyde v Annan Athletic

Recap

Clyde will play cinch League Two football next season after a 5-2 aggregate defeat over Annan Athletic confirmed their relegation from the third tier.

Jim Duffy opted to make one change from Tuesday’s first leg starting lineup with Rico Quitongo replacing Conner Duthie.

It was a highly contested start to the match with Clyde the first to have a goalscoring opportunity in the seventh minute. Martin Rennie squared the ball to Euan Cameron at the edge of the box, however, his shot bobbled wide. Liam Scullion also came close as he sprinted up the park and drilled a low effort past a swarm of bodies, but his attempt flew past the target. Meanwhile, Paul Kennedy skewed a shot from range within the opening quarter as the Bully Wee tried to exert their early dominance. The hosts’ also had to deal with premature setbacks as both Darren Hynes and Barry Cuddihy were forced off injured.

Kennedy scuppered another chance in the 25^th minute, after connecting onto Kurtis Roberts’ pass in the centre of the box, only for his effort to fly over the bar. Elsewhere, as proceedings reached the half hour mark, Annan were struggling to manoeuvre through a stubborn home defence with Ryan Mullen rarely being forced out of his box.

The match was stopped in the 40^th minute after Quitongo suffered a horrific injury and was stretchered off to an applause in the stands. With minutes remaining of the first period, The Bully Wee continued to push forward as they sought to break the deadlock. Fleming was on guard to deny Rennie’s effort with his palm, while Cameron’s effort from the right hand side of the box whistled past the post.

The Bully Wee returned from the interval firing on all cylinders as Olly McDonald opened the scoring in the 47^th minute. Paul Kennedy’s corner was flicked on by a defender to the waiting McDonald, who fired beyond Fleming from the back post. The Clyde forward was a whisker from netting a second on the hour mark when he was awarded ample space to unleash a powerful shot goalwards, however the ‘keeper reacted swiftly to clear the danger.

Scullion was next to try his luck five minutes later with a low shot from a narrow angle, which was comfortably saved by Fleming as the hosts’ desperately attempted to use their lion’s share of possession to a maximum and stage a comeback. The Galabankies had arguably their first real attempt at goal in the 69^th minute. A break on the counter lead to Goss sending a cross into the box, however no Annan bodies were able to make the vital connection.

Despite that, the visitors equalised and in turn, reclaimed their two-goal lead on aggregate in the 78th minute. Clyde were unable to intercept a high cross into the box, which was knocked to Goss, who then landed it at the feet of Luissint to drill a strong finish past Mullen and into the net.

In the third minute of added time, Annan doubled their lead to score their fifth goal of the tie. Luissint drove forward and outpowered two Clyde defenders to send a strike beyond Mullen.