Stranraer 1 Clyde 3: Lennon delighted with "fantastic" display

Clyde got their first competitive win of the season with a fine 3-1 Betfred Cup victory at Stranraer on Tuesday.
Clyde boss Danny LennonClyde boss Danny Lennon
Clyde boss Danny Lennon

The home side went into the match boosted by beating Motherwell on penalties on Saturday.

But the Bully Wee stunned their League 1 opponents with a superb first display which had them three up at the interval.

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David Goodwillie opened the scoring after just two minutes, a fine ball from Jordan Stewart setting him up to shoot past Max Currie and in off a post.

That was the striker's first goal of the season, and it didn't take long for the second to arrive.

This time John Rankin's 22nd minute pass created the opportunity for Goodwillie to score from a similar position to his opener.

Nine minutes later Martin McNiff headed in a third from a Chris McStay free-kick and McStay almost made it four just before the break, firing a half-volley inches wide.

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Stranraer rallied after the break and Grant Anderson pulled one back in 56 minutes.

But Clyde managed the game out with conceding further and could have added to the lead, Kevin Nicoll hitting the bar and Goodwillie being denied a hat-trick by the post.

Delighted Danny

Boss Lennon said afterwards he was delighted with his players' performance.

He said: "From start to finish it was very pleasing in a lot of aspects.

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"We've got a new group of players and there's an expectation on them this season. This competition has given us an opportunity to test ourselves against teams in higher leagues that have got good quality.

"That was certainly another challenge for us tonight and I thought we handed it very well."

Lennon was pleased not only with the three-goals in the first half but also the way his side dealt with the expected second-half response from Stranraer.

He said: "Stranraer improved at the beginning of the second half and they made the three substitutions which was always going to have an impact.

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"But after conceding I thought their response was absolutely fantastic. They managed the game very professionally.

"They controlled and made more right decisions than wrong ones and on the balance of play in the second half we could have had another couple.

"We've got David Goodwillie and Chris McStay having a bit of a go at each other in there for the right reasons and that's healthy.

"I'm delighted with the way we played, We scored three fantastic goals, we were fantastic with the energy we showed against a very good Stranraer side.

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"They came into the game with a lot of confidence after a fantastic performance and result against Motherwell on Saturday.

"We're going to face that same challenge ourselves now so hopefully we can take a lot of that positive play, that energy, and see where it takes against a Premiership side on Saturday."