Marvyn Wilson, the veteran midfield player had mixed feelings after helping to keep Clyde in the Irn-Bru Scottish League first division at the expense of his former club, Airdrie United.

Wilson’s raking pass set up fellow thirtysomething Gary McSwegan for the opening goal shortly after half-time, and Pat Clarke then added another to put the result beyond doubt. It was a remarkable turnaround after Clyde had trailed Alloa Athletic by three goals in last week’s play-off semi-final.

But Wilson freely admitted that Saturday’s Broadwood encounter was a bitter-sweet experience. “I’m so happy it’s unbelievable,” he began. “To lose out [to Morton on automatically staying up] on goal difference makes it all the sweeter today.

“Commiserations to everyone at Airdrie. I dedicated ten years to the club yet Airdrie fans were still booing me and shouting obscenities. But that just makes you dig in a bit more.

“Airdrie deserved to be in front at half-time, but we showed real grit and determination, which tells you something about our manager, John Brown, and what he was like as a player.

“I had holidays booked for Disneyworld and knew I was going to miss one of the play-off games, so this is even more of a relief for me.” McSwegan’s coolly-taken opener was his second crucial goal in a week following his late strike against Alloa, but the former Rangers man soon limped off injured.

“The way he looks right now, Gary has ten minutes to live,” Brown joked afterwards. “He sank a bottle of Miller in about three seconds, and I mean the whole bottle.

“He’s had hamstring problems his whole career and felt it again today. We’ll sit down and speak this week, but if Gary wants to play on next season, then I’d like to sort something out.”

Saturday’s defeat was doubly painful for local rivals Airdrie who also lost last year’s final to Stirling Albion. On a day of controversial refereeing decisions, Kenny Black, the Airdrie manager, was especially bitter about John Underhill’s refusal to award a penalty after Chris Higgins had clearly tripped Bryan Prunty when the score was 1-0.

“It looked a stonewaller to me, and even John [Brown] turned round and said it was a penalty,” Black fumed. “There were lots of defining moments in the two games, but that was a major, major decision at a very important time.”

Airdrie could yet gain promotion later this week due to the widely- expected demise of Gretna, but Black said: “I’m not going to dwell on that. If it happens, it happens.”

Attendance 2,548