Penicuik Athletic 1-1 Clyde (3-4 pens)

Clyde scraped through to the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup Third Round this evening, with recent signing Jude Smith the hero as his new team won via penalty shootout.

With first-choice goalkeeper Jay Hogarth having picked up an injury in training with parent club Falkirk last week, manager Darren Young was forced to look for a solution and moved quickly to snap up free agent Smith, who he had previously signed for East Fife. The 23-year-old came straight into the starting eleven for his debut, with the only other change to the Bully Wee team seeing Craig Howie replace Barry Cuddihy.

Penicuik unsurprisingly deployed the familiar underdog trope of flying out of the blocks, with their visitors taking some time to adjust to challenging conditions underfoot on a tight and storm-battered pitch at Montgomery Park. Smith was called into early action to deny Niall Kemp towards the end of the hosts’ encouraging start to the tie. Clyde did get a handle on the game after the first ten minutes or so, however, and the returning Howie perhaps could’ve done better than head Kyle Connell’s long throw over the bar from around eight yards out.

The away side continued to push for the game’s opening goal, but found the killer ball hard to come by when advancing into threatening positions; the home team, for their part, threatened sporadically with their own long throw threat looming large. As that pattern wore on, it growingly seemed as though the teams would go into the interval level, but the deadlock would be broken minutes before half time. It happened in scrappy fashion as the ball kicked up off the turf when Lewis Lovering went to deliver a cross, causing it to loop high into the night sky; it was kept alive in the area and Timam Scott diverted it across to James Hilton, who swept a volley inside the near post, with the aid of a deflection, to open the scoring.

Clyde pushed for an all-important second goal upon the restart and should’ve found one when Hilton strode onto a loose ball inside the home box, but he opted for power over placement with his instep and saw his low effort curl outside the far post. Lovering then had a presentable chance to make it two from Connell’s devilish ball in, but the left-back couldn’t direct his header on target. If anxiety wasn’t already setting in for the travelling contingent, it would shortly beyond the hour, when the previously-subdued Scott Williamson streaked clear in behind and was unusually hesitant in getting a shot away, with Hilton then joining him in having a strike blocked. The ball fell back to Williamson, and he cracked an effort flush off the face of the far post.

The hosts were visibly reinvigorated by their guests’ profligacy and came roaring back into the game midway through the half, with Sam Coats firing a powerful warning shot across their bow. Neat one-touch play following a long throw teed up the Penicuik man and his strike had Smith beaten all ends up in the Clyde goal, but the crossbar came to the debutant’s rescue. That warning wasn’t heeded by the visitors, however, and they shipped an equaliser minutes later. Striker Daryl Healy showed great anticipation to latch onto a ball in behind the Bully Wee back line and he streaked clear, before facing up Smith and scooping a lovely finish over the onrushing ‘keeper.

It was all immensely fraught from there and, despite both sides pushing for a winning goal, they remained locked together and advanced to extra time. By then, fatigue was setting in for both sides and a game which had already been exceedingly scrappy became even more so; it was little surprise that nine yellow cards were shown in all by the time the penalty shootout arrived. Chances were at a premium over the additional half hour of play, with substitute Jack Anderson firing a tame effort straight at home ‘keeper Neil Mitchell with the pick of them. With spot kicks moments away, there was a touch of the bizarre when referee Gary Hanvidge only saw fit to book Fletcher Patterson after the defender had hauled Williamson to the ground as the last man. Connell took the resulting free kick with the last action of the match, but saw it easily saved.

Hogarth had made himself an instant darling of the Clyde fans with a standout display in his first game for the club, and Smith followed him in making a pair of debut penalty saves in the shootout. Those were enough to present Williamson with the opportunity to win the tie with his team’s fifth and final penalty, and the striker made no mistake from twelve yards.