Clyde 0-0 Elgin City
A dominant Clyde were left to rue missed chances as they failed to make their extra man count in a stalemate with third place Elgin City.
Robbie Hemfrey was handed his Clyde debut in goals as he was named one of six changes by Ian McCall from last Saturday’s draw with Edinburgh City with Craig Howie, Liam Scullion, Martin Rennie, Robbie Leitch and Ross Lyon all returning to the starting lineup.
Elgin were reduced to ten men after just three minutes as referee Alistair Grieve deemed Jake Dolzanski to pull back Jordan Allan whilst through on goal.
The Bully Wee went dangerously close to opening the scoring twice in quick succession. Rennie caught the end of Lyon’s curling cross into the box, but he could only direct his header over the bar while Allan was served the ball on the edge of the area but his effort went wide.
As the first quarter came to a close, Lyon sprinted up the park in an attempt to play the ball to Murdoch and into the box, but a lack of Clyde bodies led to the ball being spun out and to the feet of Robson, whose powerful effort sliced through to bounce narrowly wide.
In the 26th minute, Scullion fired a low cross through the goalmouth but Allan was unable to connect, whilst Redfern then saw his effort blocked as the first half wore on.
The home side started the second half on the front foot as Scullion put Rennie through, who returned the ball to the midfielder, but his effort from a narrow angle went straight at Glavin. Rennie then had a strong shot of his own from inside the box which grazed the woodwork.
In the 54th minute, Clyde were maintaining their dominance possession-wise as Rennie released Redfern, whose pass caught the foot of Allan, but the forward was unable to trouble Glavin. Meanwhile, the Black and Whites almost opened the deadlock with their first shot of the afternoon. Dingwall looked set to direct his shot goalwards from the centre of the box, but a late intervention cleared the danger.
In the final quarter of the match, Leslie sprinted into the box for the visitors, but Hemfrey raced out of his zone to deny him with a strong save. The Clyde ‘keeper was called into action immediately after as he leapt up to deny Booth’s effort from close range, but the ball chipped the top of the bar.
Tempers become frayed during the final minutes of normal time as Elgin manager Allan Hale was sent to the stands, before the hosts displayed a lack of cutting edge by spurning two chances in injury time. Darren Lyon sent the ball through the centre of a crammed box for Glavin to deny him on the line, while Connelly found his rebound from the corner angle blocked by the shot stopper.
POST-MATCH REACTION: Ian McCall’s comments
BULLY WEE FUND DRAW WINNER: 25. BRIAN CLARK – £695
Picture by Craig Black