Clyde 1-2 Ayr United (AET)
The Bully Wee suffered a painful defeat in extra-time in the William Hill Scottish Cup at Broadwood tonight, after a brave performance that deserved more on the night.
Barry Ferguson made one change following the first meeting at Somerset Park on Saturday, with Ross Perry coming in for the injured Jordan McMillan.
Clyde started the match strongly and had two good chances to open the scoring in the early stages. Peter MacDonald went close after beating the away ‘keeper to the ball, but his chip shot from an angle drifted wide. Sean Higgins also flashed a shot just past the far post, after good work by Scott Ferguson.
However, Ayr’s first meaningful attack led to an opening goal, as Declan McDaid was given too much room at the edge of the box and he put a low shot into the bottom corner of the net.
The Bully Wee came back again though and good play by Phil Johnston on the right wing created an opening for MacDonald, but the top scorer couldn’t keep the ball down on his first time shot.
At the other end, former Clyde man Brian Gilmour was given a sight of goal but he put the ball well over the bar.
Before the break, Higgins came agonisingly close to levelling the score but his low shot from inside the box went inches wide.
The second half produced slightly less in terms of clear-cut opportunities, but the levels of effort and intensity continued.
Michael Rose came close for The Honest Men, before a strong Clyde penalty claim was waved away by the referee after Ferguson went down in the box.
Ayr had their own penalty claim a few minutes later when McDaid went over Chris Smith in the box, but Stephen Finnie decided that the away forward had dived and showed him a yellow card.
A visibly tiring Clyde side continued to push for an equaliser as the match neared the end and, in the final minute, a vital corner was won. Substitute Scott Linton put a great delivery to the front post and David Gormley headed the ball in (pictured), sparking a big celebration on and off the pitch.
That forced the match into extra-time and The Bully Wee regrouped superbly, taking control of the play and twice coming close to scoring in the first period through under-20s forward Aaron Millar and a header by Smith.
As the tie seemed certain to go to penalties, there was a cruel late blow for Clyde. Craig McGuffie picked up the ball on the left wing for Ayr and his cross was met by Michael Wardrope, who bundled the ball over the line in untidy fashion.
If you were at today’s match and are a CIC owner with a website account, you can vote for your top three performers in the Man of the Match vote.
HALF-TIME DRAW WINNING NUMBER: 1402