Clyde v Alloa Athletic

Recap

Clyde knew what they had to do, similar to the previous week; they had to turn around a one-goal deficit to keep playing on this season. Changes were made from the midweek defeat by Alloa, with Masterton dropping back to defence for the suspended McGregor, Wilson taking his spot in midfield, with Jimmy Gibson and Kevin Bradley taking the places of McGowan and McKay. McSwegan was also brought back on to the bench.

Right from the off Clyde asserted themselves, with Arbuckle in particular worrying the Alloa defence with his pace. Clyde should have taken the lead when Masteron’s superb corner was met at the back post by a flying header by Jimmy Gibson, only to see his effort come back off the bar. Masterton’s delivery would be a prominent feature in the game. Bestvina also came close with a header from a corner that Jellema touched over.

The Clyde fans had barely seen such a passionate and attacking performance all season, so must have wondered if they were going to pay for the inability to convert the chances created. On 30 minutes some of those fears were eased when Jimmy Gibson made an almost identical run to his first effort, but this time headed the ball home for what must be considered a collector’s item. A Jimmy Gibson header!

The wasps were then stung into action and Hutton had to look smart to touch over a Grant header from 18 yards. Then, in a moment of inspiration, Alloa were level. Brown Ferguson picked the ball up fully 30 yards from goal and unleashed a wonderful shot that went in via the underside of the crossbar, even if the officials were not at first sure. Broadwood was stunned, but the goal was stunning. Two minutes later and Alloa incredibly took the lead. The home fans were angry at the decision, given a clear infringement against Bradley in the lead up, but the Clyde players only had themselves to blame for the weak defending that saw Forrest ghost in at the back post to touch in Fleming’s wicked delivery. Half-time and incredibly Clyde were two goals down on aggregate after such a splendid first half performance.

McSwegan was brought on for Bradley. Worse was to follow. A mix up between Bestvina and Masterton saw McAuley race towards goal. Hutton was reluctant to come out, and McAuley slipped the ball past Hutton and goalwards. To his credit Bestvina had worked hard to get back, but in the process of trying to clear, he tripped over the ball and ended up heading into his own net for a farcical own goal. The home fans sensed the worse, as did John Brown, who replaced Bestvina with McGowan.

Higgins saw his header touched onto the bar from another Masteron delivery and time seemed to be slipping away. With 22 minutes remaining, Clyde grabbed a lifeline when McSwegan cleverly lobbed the ball over the Alloa defence, Arbuckle raced clear and despite being tugged back slipped the ball past Jellema to reduce the deficit. Amazingly four minutes later and Clyde were level on the day, when a deep Wilson cross saw McSwegan cleverly head into the path of the onrushing Billy Gibson whose downward header bear Jellema. With six minutes remaining the tie was leveled. Another superb Masterton delivery was met near post by McSwegan, whose flicked header, beat Jellema.

The part-timers from Alloa were clearly out on their feet and Clyde looked to win the game in normal time and only a combination of excellence from Jellema, woodwork, poor finishing and the odd illegal challenge prevented Clyde from doing so. Extra-time.

Surprisingly the tempo dropped a great deal – perhaps the heroics from the home team had exhausted them as well, but Clyde were still the team in ascendancy. However it took until nine minutes before a dreaded penalty shoot-out for Clyde to grab the win, with possibly their best goal of the game. MacLennan, who had grown in stature as the game went on, slipped the ball invitingly across the 18-yard box to McSwegan. All in Broadwood, no doubt expected a shot, but the veteran had the vision to pick out the onrushing Clarke who found the bottom corner from twelve yards.

An unbelievable game.