Clyde 3-3 Stranraer
A second-half hat-trick from David Goodwillie earned a battling Bully Wee side a point at Broadwood this afternoon, despite playing the vast majority of the game with ten men and being two goals down to Stranraer at the interval.
Danny Lennon made one change to the side that lost at Peterhead last Saturday, with Chris Johnston replacing Darren Smith, who dropped to the bench. He was joined there by new signing Gregg Wylde, and John Rankin was also in the dugout in a coaching role, with Allan Moore missing the match due to a family bereavement.
Clyde had the first chance of the afternoon but Ally Love dragged his snapshot wide of the post, and at the other end Carlo Pignatiello fizzed a dangerous low cross along the box with several Stranraer attackers lurking, but none were able to get a touch.
The Bully Wee were reduced to ten men in the 21st minute. Barry Cuddihy chased Andy Stirling who was through on goal and made a tackle on the edge of the box. Despite appearing to win the ball, referee Graham Beaton flashed a red card for denying a clear goalscoring opporunity.
Only the woodwork denied David Goodwillie from opening the scoring, after his vicious strike from inside the box took a deflection and cracked against the post. Within a few minutes the visitors drew first blood. Stirling’s deflected shot fell into the path of Cameron Elliot, and he headed home from close range.
The Blues doubled their advantage three minutes before half-time. A foul on Alex Petkov in the build-up was missed by Beaton and Stranraer made their way into the box. Jordan Allan’s effort was blocked on the line, but the rebound fell straight to his feet and he made no mistake this time, finding the back of the net.
Danny Lennon brought Darren Smith on at the interval and switched to three at the back in an attempt to rescue something from the game. The Bully Wee pulled one back within eight minutes of the restart. Ally Love’s long ball found Goodwillie and he raced through on goal and chipped the ball over the head of onrushing ‘keeper Max Currie from outside the box.
He made it all square six minutes later after racing past Adam Cummins and into the Stranraer box, where he was fouled by Scott Robertson. Goodwillie took the penalty and put it out of Currie’s reach, to score his 20th goal of the season.
Clyde were rallying and looked the most likely to score again. Currie made a fantastic reflex save from Smith, and Goodwillie then missed a golden opportunity. The Stranraer defence stopped when the ball reached the Clyde captain and Goodwillie himself seemed to expect the assistant to raise his flag for offside, but the decision never came and Currie diverted a weak final effort behind for a corner.
Currie was called into action again after Clyde won the ball back in the final third. Tony Wallace was played through but the Stranraer ‘keeper made another fine save, before denying Goodwillie again on the rebound.
The Blues caught Clyde with a sucker punch and retook the lead with eight minutes remaining. David Mitchell came for a corner but was unable to claim it, and Elliot was on hand to head into the net for the second time.
The Bully Wee didn’t let their heads go down however, and were back on level terms within two minutes. Mark Lamont’s floated cross into the box was met by Goodwillie, who steered a header across Currie and off the inside of the post for his second hat-trick of the season against Stranraer.
The last few minutes were end-to-end as both sides pushed for a winner, but they had to settle for a point each.
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.
BULLY WEE FUND – DRAW WINNER: 203. LEWIS McCAFFREY- £1,170