The Last Time Clyde Met Forfar….

Clyde last hosted a cup visit by Forfar Athletic on 26 January 2002 and it was the Angus side, underdogs as they will again be categorised tomorrow night, who won 2-1.

Paul Tosh had shocked the Clyde support when he calmly opened the scoring for the Loons after just twelve minutes. It was completely against the run of play but it took another twenty minutes of home pressure and several near things before Simon Mensing volleyed home the equaliser from eight yards after the Station Park side had failed to deal properly with a corner.

The onslaught on the visitors’ goal continued until half-time and beyond. Unbelievably, it was Forfar who took the lead for a second time when a sixty-fourth minute mistake by Bryn Halliwell allowed ex-Clyde midfielder Barry Sellars to blast the ball into an empty net.

There was no more scoring and the thoroughly depressing 2-1 defeat for Clyde was made even harder to take when Forfar were rewarded with a televised Scottish Cup home tie against Rangers.

The teams that day were:
Clyde: Halliwell, Mensing, McLaughlin (Convery 63), Smith, Kernaghan, Ross (Bingham 82), Mitchell, Fraser, Hinds (Crawford 75), Keogh, Hagen.
Subs not used: Cranmer, Budinauckas.
Booked: Mensing.

Forfar: Brown, McCloy, Milne, Rattray, Good, Lunan, Stewart, Sellars, Byers, Yardley (Christie 61), Tosh.
Subs not used: Moffat, Williams, Morris, Ferrie.
Booked: Rattray.
Att: 1,289
Referee: Mike McCurry

Of the Clyde team that day, only Bryn Halliwell and Simon Mensing remain at Broadwood but one thing hasn’t changed; Forfar travel through to the West believing that as the predicted losers they are under no pressure.

For Clyde, the Forfar tie comes on the back of a draw and a defeat. That should be sufficient incentive to get back to winning ways – and grab a place in a cup semi-final.