Elgin City v Clyde

Recap

The Bully Wee secured an impressive win in the Highlands this afternoon, convincingly beating previous league-leaders Elgin City.

Jim Duffy’s only change to the team that faced Queen’s Park last week was the return of Gavin Brown, who replaced Ryan Kane as Iain Gray moved up into a midfield position.

It was Clyde that opened the scoring with the first real chance of the match. A Brian McQueen header was picked up by John Neill inside the box, who turned and sent a low cross to the near post where Liam Cusack reacted sharply to prod the ball into the net for his first goal for the club.

Following another set-piece, McQueen then came close to scoring with a low shot that home keeper Clark could only fumble, with claims that the ball had crossed the line turned away by the officials.

Clyde continued to dominate proceedings and got a deserved second goal after 26 minutes. Following a partially cleared attack, the ball was returned to the Elgin box where Stephen McDonald found himself with only the keeper to beat. His low shot was saved, but Cusack was on hand to coolly slot the rebound into the net.

The home side did have the ball in the opposite net before half-time, but an offside flag ensured that the score was 0-2 at the break.

The Bully Wee continued to look the more likely to score in the second half, with solid defending soaking up any pressure that the hosts were able to exert. Cusack and Neill both had efforts saved, before the latter grabbed a killer third goal with 20 minutes left to play.

A terrific run and cross by Iain Gray was met by the body of Neill, who was able to get enough on the ball to bundle it past Clark.

Elgin’s best chance of the entire match came with only seconds left to play. Felip Mentel couldn’t hold onto a long-range shot but Stuart Leslie missed the target from inside the six yard box.

At the full-time whistle, the small band of Clyde fans that made the long journey North showed their appreciation of a fine team performance that keeps the club in fifth place in the Third Division.