Clyde v Elgin City

Recap

A superb hat-trick by David Goodwillie, as part of a gutsy team comeback in the second half, earned Clyde a vitally important three points in today’s Ladbrokes League 2 match.

Peter MacDonald and JP McGovern named the same starting line-up following last week’s win over Annan Athletic, as MacDonald remained in the dugout.

The match got off to a bad start for Clyde when, after 6 minutes, a mistake by Kerr Waddell put Chris McLeish through on goal and he slotted the ball into the corner of the net.

However, The Bully Wee came back strongly and David Gormley put a shot wide before David Goodwillie saw his header blocked at the back post.

Against the run of play, Elgin then got a second goal as Chris Dodd took advantage of some slack defending to meet a low cross and steer the ball home.

Just before half-time, a frustrating half of football was completed when Goodwillie’s shot hit the post and Matt Flynn couldn’t quite reach the rebound in time to force it over the line.

Early in the second half, Clyde were finally given a route back into the match when Goodwillie broke the offside trap, found a way past ‘keeper Marc Waters and put the ball into an empty net.

A few minutes later, the score was made 2-2 as Goodwillie made space for himself in the box and scored from a tight angle.

As play swung to the other end again, a cross into the Clyde box resulted in a penalty being awarded, after a debatable handball decision. Thomas Reilly stepped up for the visitors, but on loan goalkeeper Kyle Gourlay pulled off a terrific save to keep out the spot kick.

Elgin then had another excellent chance to score when a loose ball fell kindly for McLeish inside the area, but he rushed his shot and it went wide of the target.

The Bully Wee soon took advantage of those misses as the action continued at a frantic pace, with Goodwillie scoring his third – and perhaps best – with a clever shot into the far corner of Waters’ goal.

As the end of the match approached, Goodwillie came close to getting a fourth goal and Gourlay reacted well to keep out an Elgin free-kick, before a long injury time period was brought to an end to the relief of the Clyde support.