Clyde v Stirling Albion

Recap

Clyde are through to the last 16 of the William Hill Scottish Cup for the first time in over ten years, after what turned out to be a dramatic victory over Stirling Albion at Broadwood this evening.

Barry Ferguson made one change to the team following Saturday’s defeat to Arbroath, with Phil Johnston and Scott Ferguson coming in for the cup tied pair of Ryan Finnie and Marc McKenzie.

An action-packed opening ten minutes was triggered by a Stirling penalty award, after Chris Smith misjudged a high ball and John Gibson brought down Liam Caddis. Blair Henderson scored from the spot.

However, just a few seconds later, the match was level again when David Gormley gathered the ball in around 25 yards from goal and smashed an excellent shot through Albion goalkeeper Smith and in off the underside of the bar.

The Bully Wee then went ahead when a nice team move led to Peter MacDonald taking a first time shot that almost crept in, but the rebound off the post was eventually tapped in by Gormley.

As Clyde went on to dominate the rest of the half, MacDonald had a chance with his head before Gormley sealed a fine hat-trick on 39 minutes. His third goal was arguably his best, as he cleverly stepped inside Ross McMillan and fired the ball into the roof of the net.

Although there was a slight improvement in the visitors’ play after the break, The Bully Wee continued to look comfortable with a two goal lead and Scott McLaughlin had two efforts on goal from distance that went close, one from a direct free-kick.

However, with ten minutes left on the clock, the tie was opened up again as Gibson couldn’t hold onto a low shot from the edge of the box and ended up fouling Darren Smith as the ball broke loose. The ‘keeper was shown a second yellow card, forcing under-20s stopper Dylan Caddis to replace MacDonald and make his Clyde debut.

Henderson scored again from The Binos’ second penalty kick of the match and, with Clyde down to ten men, there was a frantic end to the game as Stirling threw men forward in search of an equaliser.

Thanks to some determined and brave defending though, The Bully Wee held on for what was, overall, a well deserved cup victory.