Montrose 1-1 Clyde

The Bully Wee secured their Ladbrokes League 2 status today, thanks to a battling draw in a tense encounter at Links Park.

With Chris Smith ruled out due to illness, Jordan McMillan came into the starting line-up in defence in the only change to the team that drew with Berwick last week.

Clyde had a decent early chance when David Goodwillie was given a half chance in the box, but his attempted lob went over the bar.

However, with 26 minutes on the clock, Goodwillie did get on the scoresheet as he got on the end of David Gormley’s cross and the ball eventually crossed the line after appearing to take a deflection.

The home side were pushing to put pressure on the Clyde goal but were coming up against a resolute Clyde defence and Phil Johnston had a decent chance at the other end, but his shot went over the bar.

Shortly before half-time, Montrose’s Matthew Smith hit the target from outside the box but the assured Kyle Gourlay gathered the ball comfortably.

In the second half, possession and territory was dominated more by The Gable Endies as they looked to get the points required to remain in the promotion play-off position, but The Bully Wee continued to defend doggedly as most of the threat came from crosses into the box and corner kicks.

There were still occasions when Clyde threatened though and Scott McLaughlin had a sight of goal but couldn’t get a shot away and Goodwillie almost scored a spectacular goal, but his overhead kick went just wide.

On 81 minutes, Montrose got an equaliser when a big scramble in the box eventually led to Chris Templeman putting the ball in from close range.

With a couple of minutes left to play, the hosts had the ball in the net again but the assistant referee ruled that the ball had just gone out of play before it was sent across goal to set up the finish.

As the match entered a nerve-shredding finale, news of Elgin’s 0-0 draw with Cowdenbeath filtered through just before the full-time whistle, meaning that both clubs had achieved their respective objectives from the day.

If you were at today’s match and are a CIC owner with a website account, you can vote for your top three performers in the Man of the Match vote.