Stirling Albion 2-1 Clyde

Clyde’s winning run came to an end at Forthbank this afternoon, as Stirling Albion edged a tight encounter in Ladbrokes League 2.

Danny Lennon named the same starting line-up as last week’s win over Cowdenbeath, with Kieran Duffie returning from injury to take a place on the bench.

The Binos started the match on the front foot and took an early lead, when a quick exchange of passes on the left wing led to Darren Smith being put through on goal and the striker made no mistake.

After a shaky start, Clyde began to settle into the game and, from an innocuous looking corner by Jack Boyle (pictured), Tom Lang’s flick almost found the net but the ball was clawed out by home ‘keeper Binnie.

Blair Currie then prevented Smith getting a second goal, before The Bully Wee equalised on 38 minutes. An attempt at a training ground move from a free-kick at the edge of the box didn’t work out as planned, but following a couple of breaks of the ball, Kevin Nicoll was in the right place to stab the ball home from close range.

The Bully Wee started the second half brightly and should have taken the lead when Chris McStay’s shot was parried into the path of David Goodwillie, but he couldn’t find the target despite looking certain to score. McStay then saw another of his efforts hit the post as the pressure continued.

However, on 58 minutes, Stirling replied with a sucker punch when Kavanagh got away from Dylan Cogill and found Peter MacDonald in the box and the experienced forward found the net in typical fashion.

A combination of a block by Currie and a superb goal-line clearance by Callum Home then denied MacDonald from getting on the scoresheet again.

In the closing stages of the match, Clyde found it difficult to make things happen in the final third, but a late penalty claim was waved away by referee Chris Graham.

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.