Clyde v Berwick Rangers

Recap

Clyde suffered elimination from the Scottish Cup in October as Berwick Rangers left Broadwood Stadium with a narrow 2-1 victory, following an exciting 90 minutes.

The Bully Wee once more rang the changes, with Connor Stevenson and John Sweeney replacing Graham Girvan and Ricky Waddell in the starting line-up. This saw Nicki Paterson supporting lone striker John Stewart and Adam Strachan returned to the left of midfield.

The alterations made an immediate difference, with Sweeney regularly winning possession and Stevenson moving the ball around to good effect. This led to a good amount of pressure on the away goal and a series of unfortunate misses. Kevin Finlayson, producing his best performance of the season, was exceptionally unfortunate to see his volley from Strachan’s set piece thump against the far post. This was compounded minutes later when the same player lobbed the ball over Mark Peat, only for it to once more strike the woodwork.

Berwick struggled to get a grip of the game during the first half but managed to create and miss a quite remarkable chance. Good work down the right hand side saw Fraser McLaren played in and from his low cross the unmarked Darren Gribben somehow put the ball past the post from just 6 yards. Clyde responded through Finlayson once more but after cutting inside Eliot Smith, his left-footed shot was easily held by Peat. The final moment of controversy in the half saw a free kick by Gribben blocked by a Clyde hand but fortunately this was missed by the officials.

The second half saw Iain Gray replace Neil McGowan for Clyde whilst a more determined Wee Gers took to the field. Jordan Allan was soon required to produce a terrific save from O’Reilly’s header. Then, McLaren nearly managed to eclipse Gribben’s earlier miss but his missed header from McLeod’s flick-on can be excused that accolade because of the pace on the ball. However, after 63 minutes Berwick took the lead with a stunningly simple goal. David Greenhill slid the ball past Ally Park for McMullan and from his cross, the unmarked Paul Currie headed home.

Clyde attempted to respond and introduced Stuart Mills for Stevenson but Berwick were to gain a second goal. Park totally misjudged a long ball forward and after cutting inside the fullback, McMullan cracked in a terrific shot that bounced into the net via the crossbar.

Within five minutes, the woodwork had been struck again and this time it led to a Clyde goal. Sweeney picked the ball up thirty yards from goal and unleashed a terrific drive that thudded against the post, before bouncing nicely for Finlayson to tap into the unguarded net.

Both sides had chances to get further goals, with John Stewart’s header agonisingly striking the cross bar for Clyde. At the other end, a powerful volley by Currie was only bettered by the terrific fist that Allan got to the ball. Despite moving Alan Lithgow up front late on, Clyde failed to create one more clear chance and Berwick will now go through to Round 3.