Clyde boss Jim Duffy said his players gave him everything as they battled to a 1-1 draw at home to Queen of the South.
The Bully Wee were the better team in the first half and led through Erik Sula, but Ruari Paton levelled nine minutes after the interval, with Clyde having to defend to retain their point, that has them three clear of bottom side Peterhead.
Euan Cameron has a cross deflected onto the bar and Martin Rennie had a header saved, with Queens’ Kieran McKechnie forcing a good stop from Clyde keeper Neil Parry in between.
But the hosts took the lead in 18 minutes when Ryan McGeever headed a Ross Cunningham cross across the box, with Sula sending a diving header into the net.
Cunningham had an effort tipped over and Liam Scullion fired wide, before Stephen Hendrie had a shot saved at the other end.
Paton levelled in 54 minutes when he controlled a cross well on the left side of the box before lashing a shot into the far post corner.
Sula blasted over, but McGeever cleared a Lee Connelly lob off the line as Queens threatened.
Jack Brydon rocketed a ‘winner’ into the top corner after the final whistle had blown, with boss Marvin Bartley’s protests seeing him red carded after the game.
Duffy said his side stuck in and gave their all, particularly Conner Duthie, who climbed off the bench for his first appearance since July, following heart surgery.
Duffy said: “We were really stretched, so all credit to the boys, because they gave me everything.
“As I’ve said before, if you get total commitment from your players then you can’t be too unhappy.
“Conner Duthie had never played for pretty much the whole season, hasn’t had any training games, bounce games or friendlies.
“It was only after the team-sheet went in, that Conner said he felt he would be happy to go on the bench because we only had two outfield subs [Brian McLean and Olly McDonald, adding to goalkeepers Ryan Mullen and Josh Bradley-Hurst].
“I had no intention of using him, other than the fact that Martin Rennie got injured.
“He hasn’t played any football and he’s not had any competitive training, so all credit to him for trying to help the team out.”
When asked if a draw was a fair result, Duffy said: “Probably over the course of the 90 minutes.
“In the first half we definitely were the side more likely [to score]. We had a couple of good chances, hit the bar, there was one where we didn’t get enough purchase on it, but we scored a really good goal.
“We were certainly very creative in the first half. Overall I thought the first half was excellent.
“In the second half we knew Queen of the South were going to come at us, and they’ve got a big squad, they’re full-time, they can change it, and they put us under a bit of pressure.
“Overall I thought we defended quite resolutely in the second half and on the balance of play I thought it was a fair result.”
Clyde head to Alloa on Saturday, and Duffy hopes to have players back.
Kurtis Roberts was suspended on Saturday, while on-loan Rico Quitongo was ineligible against his parent club.
Duffy said: “I’m hoping Barry Cuddihy will be back. We’ll just have to assess the other ones at this moment in time – Paul Kennedy and Jon Craig – but we should have a couple of players back.
“But we got an injury to Martin Rennie as well, so we have to assess that.”
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