Clyde v The Spartans

Recap

Clyde current woes continued as they remained tied at the bottom end of the table, after a damaging first half against The Spartans at New Douglas Park.

Stuart Carswell and Alex King both returned to the starting lineup with Ross Forbes and Erik Sula dropping to the bench as Chris Millar made two changes from the cup tie against Musselburgh Athletic.

It was an uneventful start to the match with neither team causing alarm to either ‘keeper in the opening forty. The match suddenly sparked to life with five minutes until the interval as the visitors took advantage of slack defending to open the deadlock. Blair Henderson’s initial strike rattled the woodwork and the ball pinged back into play, where Cammy Russell blasted the rebound beyond Leighfield and in via the crossbar.

The Bully Wee almost responded immediately as King strutted his way past defenders and into the box, but Kian Leslie’s resultant effort sailed over the target. However, buoyed by their opening goal, Spartans quickly doubled their lead in the 43^rd minute. A corner kick sent into the front post area met the head of Carswell, who inadvertently flicked the ball into the right-hand corner.

Clyde spurned two opportunities as they attempted to cut the deficit in the first minutes after the interval. Stevenson combined with Malcolm and drilled an effort on goal but Heraghty crouched low to deny him. Young connected onto a cross in the 50^th minute, but couldn’t guide his header on target.

With 15 minutes remaining, The Bully Wee ramped up the pressure with Logan Dunachie next to try his luck after catching onto Forbes’ corner, but his header was straight at Heraghty. Darren Hynes then darted into the box in the 77^th minute only to fire an effort over the bar.

Clyde pulled a goal back in the 80^th minute. Ross Forbes sent a dangerous free-kick into the box and Peter Grant timed his run well to meet the ball and powered a header into the bottom left corner of the net.

Despite that, the visitors were unfazed by their lead being halved and Leighfield was alert to prevent Craigen restoring a two-goal advantage with a strong save in the 85^th minute.

The Bully Wee were strived for an equaliser in the final minutes as King saw his effort blocked by an opponent’s body, whilst Malcolm nodded a header over the bar as The Spartans held on to secure victory.