Stewart's resources are stretched to such a limit that today he had to include himself on the bench and now they will be stretched even more.
Clyde, on the other hand, are still on the crest of a wave. Having dumped Celtic out of the Scottish Cup, they travel with an air of expectation surrounding them. Today they were given too much respect, although they clearly have highly talented individuals such as Thomas Brighton and Alex Williams, both of whom are a class above the rest. Incidentally, the rest are fairly good too!
Airdrie, however, took the lead early in the first half with a fine combination move which began with some fine foot work from Brian McPhee and ended with a blistering shot into the keeper's right-hand side of the net from top scorer Bryan Prunty.
Willie McLaren had a quiet first half, but in the moments when he managed to pull himself above the level of mediocrity he showed that he is more than capable. One such occasion arrived just after his side had scored. From the edge of the box he tried a speculative lob that skimmed past the keeper's post.
Clyde, though, were only biding their time, and after 22 minutes a flash of pure genius and some appalling defending allowed Brighton to show his magic. Picking up the ball in the middle of the park, he proceeded to weave his way towards goal before drilling home a ferocious shot from 12 yards.
Airdrie had the best of the second half with Prunty and McLaren both coming close. Indeed, the afternoon really belonged to both keepers who produced some quite outstanding saves.
In the final minutes Clyde's Craig McKeown picked up his second yellow of the afternoon, and just a few minutes later he was followed off the park by another McKeown, Stephen , who picked up his second yellow of the afternoon for ungentlemanly conduct.