Hamilton Academical 4-3 Clyde (agg 5-4)

A massive Clyde support experienced one last dose of Broadwood heartache this evening, as lamentable set piece defending cost The Bully Wee promotion.

Darren Young freshened things up from Tuesday night’s first leg, with Barry Cuddihy and Kyle Connell both coming into the starting eleven. James Hilton was named on the bench, as he steps up his recovery from the long-term injury he sustained in February.

Clyde came flying out the traps and piled the pressure on Hamilton, with it finally telling after a quarter of an hour. Connell’s inswinging corner was played into a dangerous area, and the ball glanced off the head of Accies’ Kai Smutek and into the bottom corner.

Many in attendance would’ve expected that goal to be all-important, but the hosts were in the lead within five minutes of the opener. First, Tony Gallacher rose highest to power a header home from an Accies corner, before Kyle MacDonald scrambled the ball into the net after another corner was knocked down.

The Bully Wee responded well, flexing their own set piece threat, and Cuddihy came agonisingly close to an equaliser when his looping header bounced off Josh Lane’s crossbar. Again the pressure told when, on the stroke of half time, parity was restored; Connell’s free-kick delivery evaded everyone in the box, wrong-footing Lane as it curled inside the post.

Accies then reclaimed the lead shortly after the interval, when Logan Dunachie’s miscued clearance was well controlled and finished by MacDonald. The big defender soon made amends, though, with a towering flicked header from a long throw once again drawing his side level.

A crazy tie then took its final turn when Gallacher evaded his man from another corner and headed home from close range. With half of the second period remaining, the tiring Clyde players gave everything in pursuit of another equaliser, but it was to prove a bridge too far. The best chances fell to Scott Williamson and Connell, but the former’s touch evaded him with the goal at his mercy and the latter saw his injury-time header drop just wide of the far post.

Players, staff and fans displayed their appreciation of one another’s efforts this season following the full-time whistle, one which confirmed the club’s participation in League Two again next term.