Clyde v Arbroath

Recap

The Bully Wee produced a superb performance at Broadwood tonight, to convincingly defeat Arbroath and move into the Fourth Round of the William Hill Scottish Cup.

Barry Ferguson made one change to the team following Saturday’s defeat at Cowdenbeath, with Scott Linton returning from illness to replace the ineligible Scott Tiffoney.

After a couple of early half chances for Clyde, the opening goal came from the penalty spot after 14 minutes. A Darren Miller free-kick into the box led to David Gormley being fouled and Peter MacDonald stepped up to blast the ball home from the spot.

At the other end, Steven Doris came close to getting an equaliser as he managed to control the ball close to goal, but his shot on the turn was deflected and drifted wide of the post.

After 21 minutes, a superb goal made it 2-0. Sean Higgins was fouled around 25 yards from goal and club captain Scott McLaughlin curled an excellent shot into the top corner of the net.

Just before the half-time break, The Bully Wee moved into a commanding position when Gormley earned another penalty and MacDonald converted again, this time with a low shot into the corner.

Early in the second half, Higgins’ shot was tipped over the bar by Ricky Gomes, but Arbroath hadn’t given up on the tie and looked to put pressure on John Gibson’s goal, albeit without creating many chances.

Matt Flynn replaced Darren Miller from the bench but after just a few minutes on the park, the midfielder was shown a straight red card – perhaps harshly – for a challenge on the halfway line.

However, fellow substitute Scott Ferguson then did well to find Gormley at the edge of the box and the forward swept a wonderful shot into the far top corner of the away goal, to make the situation more comfortable again.

Gormley wasn’t finished for the night though and he made it 5-0 with a goal that was almost as good, beating Gomes from outside of the box with his right foot again.

In injury time, Gibson produced a brilliant save to deny Bryan Prunty, to maintain a clean sheet and cap a fine overall team performance.

Clyde will now face local rivals Stirling Albion at Forthbank in the Fourth Round of the competition, on Saturday 21st January.