Clyde boss Danny Lennon praised his side’s resilience to hold on to a 2-1 win over Cove Rangers at Broadwood on Saturday in a final 10 minutes that “had everything”.
With the Bully Wee sitting 2-0 up thanks to David Goodwillie’s double, Rory McAllister pulled a goal back from a disputed penalty, defender Scott Rumsby was carried off with a nasty head injury and Matty Elsdon was sent off for hauling McAllister back, with Jamie Masson firing the free kick over the bar.
Lennon was delighted that his side held on for the win, but says a fortnight’s break before they travel to Peterhead on September 11 has come at a good time.
He said: “In the last 10 minutes the game had everything – a penalty, a goal, a sending off, a man getting carried off with a gash – and I’m really pleased for what the boys achieved and came through.
“We look to build on that, as we always do, and the biggest challenge to my group of players now is that we have to show that belief in ourselves week in, week out.
“If you had asked me 15 minutes before the end of the game I’d have said I wanted to keep the momentum going, but the cash on Scott’s head, the red card for Matty Elsdon and the injury list that we do have means it certainly gives us a wee opportunity to regroup.
“Hopefully, come that Peterhead game, we’ll have a lot of those players back, though obviously we’re not going to have Elsdon.
“It lets us regroup and gives us a wee bit of quality time to recover and work on things that we have been doing on the training ground.”
While Goodwillie was at his talismanic best with another two vital goals, Lennon was keen to shine the spotlight on others - in particular debutant Josh Bradley Hurst, who stepped in after new signing Neil Parry was ruled out through Covid.
He said: “Overall I’m very pleased with the performance the players put in, what we had worked on during the week, and what we had worked hard to do, to nullify a very strong, good Cove side.
“When you present those opportunities for David Goodwillie, he’s more often than not right on the money with it, so I’m absolutely delighted.
“He took both goals very well, but it wasn’t just down to David Goodwillie.
“I thought we caused them problems in the first half, with the pace of Ross Cunningham getting down the outside, and I felt we were good and had a very solid shape against the way Cove play.
“At times it’s like they have a front five, so it was all about a good understanding of each other’s roles and trying to deny them space, which I felt we did for long periods.
“When you’re 2-0 up the next goal is very important, and I thought for long periods, although they had a lot of the ball and were peppering us, we handled everything well.
“I was absolutely delighted for Josh Bradley-Hurst, the young goalkeeper, who came and collected to take pressure off of us and made one or two very good saves throughout the match.”
Clyde keeper David Mitchell made a deadline day move to Hibs yesterday, following Parry's arrival.
Mitchell kept 17 clean sheets in 68 appearances for The Bully Wee and Lennon said: "David has been good for Clyde and Clyde has been good for David.
"He needed an opportunity to show his quality and we’ve helped bring his best qualities out in him.
"A move to the top league is well deserved and everyone at the club wishes him well and thanks him for some great performances in his time here.”
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