Clyde are forced to setle for point at Annan

Kevin Nicoll’s 64th minute opener was cancelled out by a Blair Henderson leveller five minutes later.

And boss Danny Lennon admitted: “I was a wee bit disappointed that we didn’t hold onto that longer than five minutes.

“Conditions were very difficult. It was very windy and it’s a very tight pitch and probably one of the coldest days ever.

“There was very little in it, although I felt the wind had a big part to play in the first half but probably we relied on that too much.

“We could have got it down, we were a wee bit more direct trying to get the ball into Annan’s territory.

“But I thought we could have controlled that and we spoke about that at half-time, that we definitely had to play more against the wind and we did that. I thought we did very well in the second half.

“We scored a good goal but they took full advantage of a wee bit of space. Henderson. who we know can be a handful, managed to get in beyond our midfield with a little break.

“He’s hit the ball from a good distance, but it’s wind assisted and it’s right in the corner.

“I felt after that we got a good response and had a couple of half-chances.

“Chris McStay’s put a couple of great balls across the goalmouth, big Martin McNiff’s missed one completely at the back post - probably not the man you’re wanting in that area at that time, you’re wanting one of your strikers in there.

“And Goodie’s put one over from a great ball over from McStay.

“But over the piece I thought we’d done enough to earn the three points and you could see the disappointment on the players’ faces after the game.”

Clyde, looking for a third win in a row after victories over Stenhousemuir and Elgin, started well and almost went ahead when a clearance from Annan keeper Alex Mitchell hit team-mate Steven Swinglehurst and rebounded just past.

But Annan, playing against the strong wind, looked comfortable defending anything Clyde could throw at them and half-time arrived with the scoresheet still blank.

After the break Annan’s Aidan Smith had a shot save by Blair Currie before Clyde made the breakthrough.

David Goodwillie collected a McNiff throw-in and muscled his way into the box to set up Nicoll whose low shot from 10 yards through a ruck of players found the corner of the net.

But five minutes later Henderson atoned for an earlier miss with a fine individual goal after he collected the ball in the middle of the park and drove forward to finish with a low 20 yard shot which slipped past the outstretched arm of Currie.

Annan’s Evan Horne was fortunate when his clearance from McStay’s cross ball went over his own bar from three yards.

Goodwillie and Jack Boyle had half chances and in the final minutes Rabin Omar’s well struck shot produced a good save from Currie.