Albion Rovers 1-1 Clyde

The Bully Wee earned a credible point in Coatbridge this afternoon, after a tight match against promotion hopefuls Albion Rovers.

Clyde started the match brightly and immediately took the game to the hosts. The front pairing of Marc McCusker and Charlie Miller looked dangerous and they both worked their way into good postions in the box during the opening minutes, forcing some dogged defending from Rovers.

A deserved goal did come after 14 minutes though. A John Stewart flick-on wasn’t dealt with properly, allowing McCusker to challenge for the ball with the onrushing ‘keeper Flynn. After they collided, the ball broke loose and Clyde’s top scorer was able to get up in time to put the ball into an empty net.

Seconds later, Stewart had a fantastic chance to score himself and double the lead. The forward was presented with space to run into and he did well to get into a good position in the box, but couldn’t find a finish as his shot trickled wide.

That was to prove to be a turning point as Albion equalised soon afterwards and against the run of play. The goal had an element of fortune about it, with a free-kick taking a heavy deflection and dropping to Scott Chaplain who poked the ball past Bryn Halliwell from six yards.

The rest of the half was a closer affair but neither side could fine a route to goal again.

After the break, the match turned into a much staler contest with a difficult Cliftonhill surface not helping to encourage open football. It took until the closing minutes for either side to come close to scoring but the handful of chances were all squandered.

Rovers’ Robert Love found himself bearing down on goal from only a few yards out but he couldn’t get the ball out from under his feet and the danger was cleared. Clyde’s best opportunity fell to Stewart at the back post – following a lovely pass by Miller – but he couldn’t get a clean shot away after a heavy first touch.

If you were at today’s match and are a website member, don’t forget to vote for your top three performers in the Man of the Match vote.