Bully Wee drop vital points in clash with Blue Brazil

Cowdenbeath .... 1 Clyde ................. 0

Clyde’s hopes of clinching a promotion play-off spot took a major blow after defeat to bottom-of-the-league Cowdenbeath.

Brad Smith’s second-half goal was enough for the Fife outfit to see off Danny Lennon’s men at Central Park.

The Blue Brazil remain at the foot of League Two but Smith’s low drive from 14 yards on 68 minutes has pulled them to within seven points of Berwick Rangers and Edinburgh City.

Clyde, however, dropped three points behind a Stenhousemuir team that have two games in hand.

Lennon said:“We should have taken the chances we created in the first 20 minutes but I have to give Cowdenbeath a lot of credit for their second-half performance.

“I did not think that we were giving the strikers the service they needed after the break.

“The challenge of getting to the play-offs is greater now and we need to win our last three games.”

Clyde had enjoyed the better of the first half but Jordyn Sheerin had the first effort of the day for the home side when his long-range shot narrowly missed the target.

David Goodwillie was then denied a goal by a sliding block from Bryan Gilfillan. The Scotland international turned provider after a clever turn in the box and played in Ally Love, whose shot was deflected behind for a corner.

Clyde came even closer from the resulting corner but Dylan Cogill’s header was cleared off the line.

In the second half, the roles were reversed and Cogill cleared an attempt from Ben Reilly off his own goal line.

Chris McStay then picked out Goodwillie with a crossfield ball and Clyde’s top scorer hit a powerful effort which David McGurn had to parry.

The only goal came midway through the second period after a Cowdenbeath ball into the centre of the box found Smith, who squeezed a shot past Blair Currie.

Clyde did have a series of set pieces in dangerous positions in the closing stages but did not make them count.

Cowdenbeath boss Gary Bollan said:“Clyde will give you problems as they have quality in David Goodwillie up top but I thought that Jamie (Pyper) and Bryan were magnificent against him today.”