Clyde v Elgin City

Recap

The Bully Wee will take a two-goal lead to the second leg of the Ladbrokes League 1 play-off semi-final against Elgin City, following a fine 3-1 win at Broadwood tonight.

With Mark McLaughlin and John Gemmell passed fit to play, the Clyde starting line-up was the same as Saturday’s match against Stirling Albion, with Sean Higgins returning to take a slot on the bench.

Although Elgin started the match brightly and looked lively throughout the first half, it was Clyde that created the best chances. The first of those came when Jordan Kirkpatrick burst through the defence, but he skewed his shot wide of the target.

After 19 minutes, the opening goal was scored by Gemmell, as the forward squeezed the ball in via the away ‘keeper following the ball coming back out off the bar and a subsequent scramble.

Gemmell then narrowly missed with a shot from outside of the box but, with time running out at the end of the first, Scott Linton doubled Clyde’s lead with a stunning goal; a swerving, right footed hit from 25 yards that left Mark Hurst with no chance.

However, early in the second half, Elgin got firmly back into the tie when Marc McKenzie’s excellent cross was converted by the head of Kyle Macleod from close range.

With the visitors looking dangerous, The Bully Wee battled back and notched a very welcome third goal after 67 minutes. Linton’s long throw found Mark McLaughlin and the big defender used all of his nous to send a looping header into the far corner of the net.

Clyde then quickly survived a scare at the other end as Elgin substitute Connor McLaren found space in the box, but his low shot somehow missed the post and went out for a goal kick.

Late in the game, Jamie Watson’s run into the box looked dangerous but his eventual cross was cleared, before John Gibson did superbly to come off his line to prevent Craig Gunn getting a shot on goal.