Clyde v Rangers

Recap

A unique occasion came to Broadwood as the club employed the services of Brain Laudrup, Jorg Albertz and Arthur Numan as guests to play against their former team at a packed Broadwood Stadium.

In a very sociable atmosphere, both sets of fans warmly greeted the guests onto the park. Clyde would hand home debuts to Michael Ohnesorge, Mark Brown, Stuart Kettlewell and Alan Trouten who would enter the fray 30 minutes into the game for Numan.

Considering the Rangers side were only a couple short of the team who had competed at the Uefa Cup Final, Clyde were quite comfortable in possession against their opponents.

Naturally the Spl team would enjoy more of the possession, but were perhaps trying to get striker Kenny Miller in too quick, and the front pairing of Miller and Darcheville were being well policed by Higgins & Brown.

McCulloch in the wide berth was prominent and tried his luck on a couple of occasions but Hutton was more than up to the task. Novo would also almost capitilise on a couple of kind bounces but swiped at fresh air.

The majority of the crowd were at Broadwood of course to see the guests and they would not leave disappointed as Laudrup still had the amazing ability to glide past players with ease, and Albertz still had composure and sublime skills on the ball, on one occasion totally fooling three Rangers players with one deft flick inside to McGregor.

Both teams had a chance to break the deadlock before half time, with Darcheville beating the offside trap, only to see Hutton block his six-yard effort superbly. The a 30 yard free kick for the home team present Albertz with the opportunity to test McGregor in the Rangers goal. Despite striking it well, perhaps the fact that Novo was about a yard away when the direct kick was struck put off the former Clyde favourite and the teams went in all square at the interval.

Cherrie replaced Hutton at half time, and a minute into the second half, Laudrup and Albertz were withdrawn to a standing ovation and then 15 minutes of autograph signings. Roddy MacLennan and Div McGowan would replace them.

Rangers would then come the closest to scoring, when a McCulloch drive was superbly tipped on to the bar by Cherrie. Substitutes fragmented the rest of the game, but Rangers would win the game with a slightly fortunate goal. Charlie Adam’s powerful shot was diverted into the goal by Novo, with the Spaniard knowing little about it, but enough to claim the goal.

Clyde almost snatched a draw at he death but McGowan’s clever lob went inches wide with McGregor beaten.

CLYDE (3-5-2): Hutton (Cherrie 45), McGregor, Ohnesorge, Higgins, Numan (Trouten 33), Brown, Gibson, Kettlewell (Wilson 86), Clarke (McGowan 65), Albertz (McSwegan 47), Laudrup (Roddy MacLennan 47). SUBS NOT USED: Murch, Stephen Connolly.

RANGERS: McGregor, Whittaker (Dailly 75), Broadfoot, Weir, Papac, Novo, Hemdani (Emslie 73), Thomson (Adam 59), McCulloch, Darcheville (Velicka 59), Miller (Boyd 59).

GOAL: Novo (79)