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Two first half strikes from Clyde captain David Goodwillie were enough to give them victory in our cinch League One clash at Broadwood Stadium.

Cove Rangers were unfortunate not to be two up before former Aberdeen and Dundee United striker Goodwillie cashed-in on some slack play to put the Bully Wee in a commanding position by the interval.

Cove Rangers then launched waves of attacks on the Clyde goal, but had to wait until the latter stages before Rory McAllister pulled a goal back, from the penalty spot.

Substitute Leighton McIntosh then saw a deflected shot rebound to safety off the face of the Clyde bar and we should have been awarded a second spot-kick when Mitch Megginson was kicked during what ended up being eight minutes of injury-time.

The home side held out though to claim all three points as we paid a heavy price for those first half lapses.

Harry Milne, Shay Logan and Fraser Fyvie were among a batch of players ruled out by injuries and illness.

That meant a first start for summer signing Jevan Anderson, although it also meant we were only able to name two outfield players, Jamie Masson and Leighton McIntosh, on the bench.

We went for it from the off and were unfortunate not to go ahead twice within the opening minute.

The first chance came when Rory McAllister played a one-two with Robbie Leitch then saw his close-range shot bundled behind for a corner.

Iain Vigurs then fired a corner over from the left and Anderson saw his net-bound header cleared off the line by a home defender.

Despite our good start it was Clyde who took a seventh minute lead, when GOODWILLIE was given too much space to break clear from half-way and he advanced to calmly slot the ball beyond Kyle Gourlay from the edge of the area.

It was almost 2-0 in the 20th minute when Ross Cunningham’s pace helped him race clear on the right and he was unlucky to see his 18-yard shot rebound to safety off Gourlay’s left post.

Megginson then had a 14-yard shot saved by home keeper Joshua Bradley-Hurst after McAllister had dummied a Scott Ross cross from the right.

Anderson was unfortunate again in the 35th minute. He met a Blair Yule cross from the right at the back post and was denied a debut goal when Bradley-Hurst made a great save from the defender’s header from the edge of the six yard box.

Clyde’s second came when Vigurs was dispossessed by GOODWILLIE around 35-yards out from our goal.

The striker ran on and saw his first shot parried by Gourlay, but Goodwillie reacted quickly to latch on to the rebound and net from a tight angle on the right.

The second half belonged to us as we laid siege to the Clyde goal, with the home side content to sit in and soak up the pressure.

We started with Megginson crossing from the right to Anderson and his shot was deflected behind for a corner.

Vigurs took the corner and when the ball fell to McAllister his shot at goal appeared to be handled by a Clyde defender, but referee Grant Irvine turned away our appeals for a penalty.

Vigurs fired another cross over a minute later and Scott Ross was unlucky to see his shot cleared away from the line by a Clyde defender.

Within 30 seconds the ball was back at the feet of Vigurs and when he fired it at goal Bradley-Hurst was fortunate to see the ball hit his body and spin up and over the crossbar.

Leitch then set up McAllister for a shot, from a tight angle on the left, that fired into the side netting as the one-way traffic continued.

Anderson was unlucky again in the hour when he met a Vigurs’ corner from the left and sent a header from the edge of the six-yard box just wide of the far post.

Defender Anderson appeared to suffer an ankle injury as he landed and had to be taken off, with Jamie Masson replacing him.

Masson’s first involvement was a pass to Leitch and he wasn’t too far off target with a powerful shot from 15-yards.

We had another chance when McAllister was tripped just outside the Clyde penalty area in the 75th minute.

The striker took the free-kick but could only curl his 19-yard shot inches wide of the target.

A sweeping passing move forward ended with McAllister’s low cross from the left being touched away by a defender before Megginson could tap home from inside the six-yard box.

We were finally rewarded when the referee awarded us a penalty for Rumsby’s foul on McAllister in the 83rd minute.

McALLISTER took the kick and netted in style from the spot for the third game in a row.

Clyde hung on for dear life after that.

Masson cut open their defence in the 87th minute with a pass to Megginson, but his low eight-yard shot was saved by Bradley-Hurst.

McIntosh then saw his shot, from a tight angle on the right, deflected by home defender Matthew Elsdon and rebound to safety off the face of the crossbar.

Elsdon was then sent off, in the 94th minute, for pulling McAllister back when he was clear through on goal.

Masson took the free-kick, but his effort went over the crossbar.

Megginson was furious when the referee ignored his claims for a penalty after the striker appeared to be kicked by Billy Mortimer just inside the Clyde area deep into injury-time.

Clyde had time to make another late change, when Rumsby was forced to go off after suffer concussion in a collision with his own keeper, before the referee brought a dramatic second half to an end.

CLYDE: Bradley-Hurst, Elsdon, Cunningham, Rumsby (Docherty 92), Kennedy (Trialist 81), Gomis, Nicoll (Splaine 88), Goodwillie, Balatoni, Munro (Mortimer 77),  Livingston.

Subs: Trialist, Andrew, Jones.

COVE RANGERS: Gourlay, Neill, Scully, Ross, Strachan, Yule, Megginson, McAllister, Anderson (Masson 61), Vigurs, Leitch (McIntosh 75).

Subs: McKenzie.

Referee: Grant Irvine.

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