A spectacular stoppage time equaliser from Clyde substitute Cameron Salkeld’s left Peterhead on the brink of relegation to League Two.
The Blue Toon are now five points adrift of the Bully Wee with only two games left to play.
With a vastly inferior goal difference, they will need to beat Kelty Hearts and Falkirk in their final two games and need Clyde to lose both of their final two games to avoid finishing bottom.
The Blue Toon led through a first-half goal from joint caretaker boss Jordon Brown before Kieran Shanks missed the chance to put the home side 2-0 up when his penalty was saved by Clyde goalkeeper Ryan Mullen.
The Balmoor men were to pay the price for that miss when Salkeld volleyed home a late leveller.
Brown said: “The boys are absolutely devastated.
“I feel like I’m repeating myself but you can’t fault any of the effort, the hard work, the attitude.
“It was just a freak goal at the end, the boy scores an absolute worldie and, to be honest, it sums up the season. The league table doesn’t lie in the end.”
🧤 Ryan Mullen
⚽️ Cameron SalkeldWatch as @ryanmullen_01 saves a penalty in the second half before @c_salkeld_ equalises for us in injury time in our 1-1 draw at Peterhead yesterday #bullywee pic.twitter.com/ry4NFRJI8l
— Clyde FC (@ClydeFC) April 22, 2023
The post-match feeling is something Brown doesn’t want to repeat again in his career.
He said: “We’ve got young boys in there and you want to learn from that and not experience that again and build on it.
“It’s a strange one because it’s not completely over and we said that to them.
“We go again on Tuesday and Thursday in training and then the game on Saturday.
“It’s up to all of us as to how the next two games go.
“You can throw the towel in now or you can pick yourself up and go again.”
Brown admitted the result was a major disappointment as victory would have moved the Blue Toon off the foot of the table and kept their fate in their own hands.
He said: “On your home patch, you’re so, so close to a massive result.
“We could have scored a couple more.
“I thought with the way they played that the only way they would score was from a long throw and it turned out that way.”
Your #BlueToon line up for today’s @cinchuk League 1 match with @ClydeFC pic.twitter.com/tKVsqVGV5u
— Peterhead FC (@pfcofficial) April 22, 2023
Brown, however, wants the Blue Toon players to give everything in their next two games while a slim hope to avoid the drop remains.
He said: “The application has never been in doubt.
“We certainly can’t fault it over the last few weeks.
“It has just been about that wee bit of quality in the final third.
“We didn’t put the game to bed and were hit by an absolute sucker punch.
“We’ll bounce back again, I’m absolutely positive about that.
“It’s such a surreal one because you’ve not been officially relegated but Clyde are celebrating as though that is the case.
“It’s completely up to ourselves as to how we approach the last two games and look to get a result at Kelty but it’s completely out of our hands.”
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