Match Report - By John Hoey

City and Clyde shared a point apiece and four goals in a thoroughly entertaining match at Glebe Park.

The Bully Wee seemed to have wrapped up the points when Paul McLeod scored for them with just two minutes remaining to give them a 2-1 advantage, but a magnificent strike from Charlie King right at the death gave City a deserved share of the points.

Manager Jim Duffy made a number of changes from the side that drew with Arbroath the previous week. Jon Seeley was unavailable, so Barry Smith stepped back to join Paul Mclean in central defence with Neil Janczyk returning to the side in midfield. Charlie King also moved back to a midfield spot with Kris Renton partnering Rory McAllister up front. Bobby Barr, who had signed earlier in the week from Albion Rovers in a short-term loan deal also started for City.

The first-half was a fairly even contested affair with Brechin having a lot of possession, but as in the previous week, they were finding it difficult to create any clear-cut chances. The visitors were also having their fair share of possession and were passing the ball around quite effectively, again without really creating anything much in front of goal. However, they got their noses in front ten minutes before the break with a terrific goal from WILLIE SAWYERS. The striker picked up a pass on the left side of the field and took a few steps forward before unleashing a fierce left-foot drive which zoomed in at Craig Nelson’s right-hand post.

City seized the initiative after the break and pushed forward at every opportunity, however, it was Clyde who came closest to scoring when a great Wiilie McLachlan shot from 20 yards came back off the bar. Brechin kept trying though, and they got their reward in the 68th minute when McALLISTER headed home from close-range after a McLean header had been blocked.

New signing Bobby Barr was playing well in his debut and was causing the Clyde defence no end of problems with his strong running. City kept pressing and McAllister, Barr and Renton all came close. However, the wood work came to their rescue again in the 86th minute when a McLeod shot came back off the bar. It was second time lucky for the Clyde front-man two minutes later though when he scored his side’s second goal.

Substitute David McKay picked up the ball on the right, moved forward and sent in a cross across the penalty-box which was met by McLEOD who side-footed the ball past the helpless Nelson.

No-one would have given anything for City’s chances at this stage, but they picked themselves up and got the equaliser for the second time in the match deep into injury time when KING picked up the ball around 25 yards from goal and fire home a magnificent right-foot volley which left visitors keeper Callum Reidford clutching at thin air.

City boss Jim Duffy said,

“ I was disappointed with the result but not with our second-half performance.

We didn’t play particularly well in the first-half but we were much more like ourselves after the break.

Ironically, Clyde had two long-range efforts that hit the bar in the second-half and scored with two minutes to go but we had umpteen chances. We played really well during the second half and were on the front foot.

I thought that it was a really good game for the spectators. We’d four goals, numerous missed chances, clearances off the line and shots hitting the woodwork. Clyde worked hard and played really well and must have thought that they’d won the match when they scored with just two minutes to go but we showed our character to come back and equalise again in injury time.”

Clyde boss John Brown said,

“ It was a great game for the spectators, but obviously our lads are disappointed with the final result.

We played very well in the first-half and Brechin had more of the game after the break when their greater experience began to show, but even when we were under pressure in the second-half, we still managed to hit the bar a couple of times. Our keeper though had a couple of great saves and there were another couple of times when we cleared the ball off the line so to be fair we can’t complain too much about the result.

The lads are disappointed but they played with a lot of spirit, and if they can keep this kind of form up then I’ve no doubt we’ll start to get a few victories under our belt and begin to climb the table.”

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