Clyde v East Stirlingshire

Recap

The Bully Wee moved off the bottom of the Third Division table for the first time in over six months this evening, thanks to a two-goal victory over nearest rivals East Stirlingshire.

Bryn Halliwell, Iain Gray, Neil McGowan, Alan Lithgow and Connor Stevenson were all added to the Clyde starting line-up following the trip to Elgin, as Jim Duffy continued his recent policy of rotating the squad.

The match was disappointing in the first half, with neither side finding a good rhythm on a near perfect playing surface. Kevin Finlayson had Clyde’s best chance when he shot wide following a Connor Stevenson knock-down, with Stephen Maguire missing a good opportunity to score with his head at the other end.

A penalty soon after the half-time break earned the Bully Wee an important breakthrough. A delivery into the box caused problems in the Shire defence and Marc McCusker was left with a chance to turn and shoot from close range, only to be hauled down. John Stewart – an early replacement for the injured Jamie McCluskey – slotted home the resultant spot kick to make it 1-0.

The points were made more secure with a quarter of an hour left to play, with a second Clyde goal via a sweeping team move. Park and Sweeney started it off in midfield and Ricky Waddell’s teasing cross was lobbed back across goal by Finlayson, leaving Stewart with a simple header to double his tally for the evening.

That forced the visitors to change their gameplan and some additional pressure on goal eventually yielded a soft looking penalty award when Ross McMillan was penalised. However, Kevin Cawley missed the target completely and with only minutes left on the clock a welcome Clyde victory was confirmed.