From The Other Side

The Official Website’s Craig Anderson looks at fellow First Division club and Challenge Cup First Round opponents, Queen of the South…

Clyde v Queen of the South (14/8/2007)

AFTER three defeats on the spin, Colin Hendry and the boys will want to put that to bed and that could spell bad news for Queen of the South.

The Dumfries side come to Broadwood on Tuesday for the first round of the Challenge Cup and Clyde fans will be hoping the club can go one better this year. The penalty shoot-out defeat to Ross County in last season’s final at McDiarmid Park may still hurt some players and supporters and that could spur the team on for success.

Amazingly both sides have never met in the tournament since its inception in 1990, but Queen of the South have been previous winners of the tournament, having beaten Brechin City 2-0 in the 2002 final, ironically at Broadwood. But past glories count for nothing and both clubs will be out to try and win the silverware that this competition has to offer.

Incidentally, both clubs have experienced a change in manager over the summer and while Clyde’s transition has been well-documented, Queens’ change seemed to be a little more straight-forward. Ian McCall left the club after they finished eighth in Division One and he was replaced by his assistant, Gordon Chisholm, despite leading them to a Scottish Cup quarter final.

However Chisholm’s start to the season has been less than perfect as his side threw away a two-goal lead to draw 3-3 on the opening day to St Johnstone. That was followed by a disastrous 1-0 defeat to East Fife in the CIS Insurance Cup last Tuesday, before losing 2-1 to Dundee on Saturday.

It’s that form, plus Clyde’s failure to register a victory in their three games so far that will make this tie more important than perhaps it was a fortnight ago.

Historically, Clyde have a far superior record over the Doonhamers having won 55 times in 112 meetings, but Queens got the bragging rights in the last meeting between the clubs. Stephen Dobbie’s penalty separated the clubs in the last meeting, but Clyde won two of the other three league meetings.

The last cup meeting came only last year when Queen of the South dumped the Bully Wee out of the CIS Insurance Cup at the first round stage. The Doonhamers were 4-1 up by the interval as Clyde failed to get anything from the game, but even a Stephen O’Donnell penalty failed to spark the club into life and hopes of a League Cup run were dashed.

However the Challenge Cup tie on Tuesday could serve as a springboard to get some decent form… for both clubs.