Clyde v Montrose

Recap

The Bully Wee suffered their first defeat at Broadwood in almost a year this afternoon, as Montrose took all three points in the Ladbrokes League 1 clash.

Danny Lennon named the same starting XI that won at Dumbarton last weekend, with Ross Lyon returning from injury to take a place on the bench. Alex Petkov missed the match due to international committments.

Clyde had an early chance to take the lead when Martin McNiff beat Montrose ‘keeper Aaron Lennox to the ball from a corner, but his effort was blocked on the line.

The visitors also had a shot heading for target blocked in the box by a Clyde defender, before Darren Smith had the ball in the back of the net, prodding home the rebound from Ally Love’s header. The assistant referee however had raised his flag for Love straying offside.

Montrose took the lead from the penalty spot four minutes before the interval after Martin McNiff was adjudged to have brought down Cameron Ballantyne in the box. David Mitchell guessed the right way but was unable to keep out Graham Webster’s well placed spot kick.

The Gable Endies doubled their advantage three minutes later following a quick counter attack, with Joel MacBeath finishing a low cross into the box.

Referee Steven Kirkland, who issued a soft red card to David Goodwillie a fortnight ago, surprisingly decided to only caution Webster for a late and wild lunge on Mitchell. The whistler also missed two clear penalty offences as Clyde looked to get back into the game, with a jersey tug on Tony Wallace from a corner, and a goalbound shot from Chris Johnston hitting an outstretched arm going unpunished.

Mitchell made two good stops as Montrose looked to add to their lead late on, before the visitors were eventually reduced to ten men two minutes from time, after Martin Rennie threw an elbow into the face of Craig Howie.