Clyde 3-3 Elgin City

The Bully Wee and the Black & Whites took a point each this afternoon, following an incident-packed IRN-BRU Third Division match at Broadwood.

Nicki Paterson (right) returned to the Clyde side and he was joined by loan signings Bryn Halliwell and Ryan MacBeth in the starting line-up.

The visitors almost took the lead after around 15 seconds and that was perhaps an indication of the amount of action that was to follow. Only a few minutes later, Clyde scored through John Stewart. As Elgin ‘keeper Donnelly struggled to gather the ball after a low cross, the striker slid in to force the ball into the corner of the net.

Bryn Halliwell was relieved to be shown a yellow card when he handled the ball outside the area, but he was soon picking the ball out of the net. Midway through the first half, City equalised from the spot after the officials judged that a foul took place just inside the Clyde box. Jason Crooks notched the successful penalty and the incident also led to Alan Lithgow having to leave the field due to injury.

Elgin were playing some good football at this stage, but the Bully Wee came back into the match and regained the lead before the half-time break. A defensive slip led to Stewart racing through on goal and he was brought down by Donnelly. Ref Stephen Finnie pointed to the spot again and it was the away ‘keeper’s turn to be thankful to only see a yellow card. Marc McCusker coolly converted to make it 2-1.

Twenty minutes into the second half, Ally Park – playing at centre half due to Lithgow’s removal – was harshly ruled to have committed a foul in the air and Elgin were handed penalty number three of the match. Justice was perhaps done as Halliwell made a good stop.

Almost immediately, play raced to the other end and Stewart was brought down at the edge of the box. Nicki Paterson stepped up and placed a fine shot into the bottom corner of the net to give Clyde a two goal lead.

However, City didn’t give up and grabbed a lifeline with fifteen minutes to go. David Gormley placed a lovely header into the far corner of the net after a good passing move and deep cross from the right.

Goalscorer McCusker then took the shine off another good performance by picking up a second yellow card for a clumsy tackle, leaving Jim Duffy’s men with ten minutes to try and hold on for a win with a numerical disadvantage.

Unfortunately it proved to be too hard a task, as another good Elgin delivery into the box was met by Craig Frizzell, who left Halliwell with no chance and confirmed a 3-3 full-time score.

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