Clyde off to a flying start as Elgin flop
CLYDE gave themselves a great platform to reach the final of the League One promotion play-offs with victory over Elgin City at Broadwood.
John Gemmell got the opener from close range before Scott Linton doubled the Bully Wee’s advantage just before half-time. Elgin’s Kyle Mcleod headed his side back into it soon after the restart, but Mark McLaughlin re-established Clyde’s two-goal advantage to give them a commanding lead going into the second leg.
They managed to do it without the presence of manager Barry Ferguson, who was in Switzerland to conclude his UEFA Pro Licence. Stand-in gaffer, assistant Bob Malcolm, said: “I spoke to the manager 10 minutes before the game and just after, and the kit man was keeping him up to date, so he’s happy at the moment.
“We know though that it’s only half-time. We’re happy enough. We didn’t start in the first 10 minutes, but we got a good lead going into half-time and we told the boys just to keep going and do the same things.
“We sat back though at the start of the second-half and allowed them back in the tie. To be fair to the boys, they pulled together again and they’ve given us a good wee cushion going up to Elgin.”
Clyde’s opening goal came slightly against the run of play after 19 minutes, McLaughlin heading a cross from the right off the underside of the bar and down onto the line, where Gemmell bundled the ball home from the sort of distance that all good strikers relish.
Elgin were playing some nice football but lacked a cutting edge, and Clyde looked dangerous when in possession. Jordan Kirkpatrick almost got a second for the home side with a powerful free-kick that Mark Hurst had to claw away.
It looked, however, as though Elgin would get into the dressing room with no further damage before a sublime strike out of nothing from Linton put the Bully Wee two up.
David Gormley did well to cushion a chipped pass onto his chest into the path of Linton 25 yards out on the right-hand side of the area, and the midfielder unleashed a belter of a half-volley with the outside of his foot that flew into the top left-hand corner, leaving Hurst without a prayer.
ELGIN boss Jim Weir would have asked for a reaction from his players, and he got it just four minutes into the second-half as the impressive Dylan Easton whipped a cross in that Mcleod headed emphatically past John Gibson to reduce his side’s arrears.
They missed a golden chance to level when Brian Cameron headed Archie McPhee’s freekick straight at Gibson, and they were made to pay as Clyde got a third in the simplest of manners 23 minutes from time.
A long through-ball by Linton into the area was glanced on by McLaughlin, and the ball looped up and over Hurst, and into the net.
“I’ve stressed to the players that the tie isn’t over,” Weir said. “We’ve got an excellent home record, so we need to make sure we get to Borough Briggs and get that first goal.
“There’s no way that the tie is over. If the shoe was on the other foot I’d be saying the same.”