Barry says Brora is ‘hell of a journey’
Bully Wee vist Brora inScottish Cup
Clyde will look to avoid another shock exit from the Scottish Cup this weekend as they make a 424 mile round-trip to Brora Rangers.
The Bully Wee visit the Highland League side on Saturday in the first round of the competition.
And it will be Barry Ferguson’s second journey north in 12 months after they were dumped out at Formartine United last season.
Clyde travel to the village of Brora, Sutherland, on the back of a 1-0 win over Edinburgh City - a result that lifted them into third in the Ladbrokes League Two table.
Commenting on the cup tie, Ferguson said: “Your bread and butter is the league, that is the main focus. But every game we go into we look to win and we’ll do that next week.
“It’s a difficult place to go and I think they’ve spent a bit of money up there as well.
“It’s one hell of a journey so we might need to go up and camp the night before.”
A second half goal from top scorer Sean Higgins earned The Bully Wee an important three points at Meadowbank in an uninspiring League Two encounter.
Ferguson made one change to the starting line- up following the last outing against Berwick Rangers, with David Gormley coming in for Matt Flynn.
In a first half that was lacking in quality on a heavy pitch, there were few clear cut chances at either end. Ousman See had the home side’s best chance, but his attempt to stretch and divert a cross towards goal was unsuccessful and drifted wide.
At the other end, Chris Smith couldn’t get his shot on target after the ball broke to him in the box, before Peter MacDonald fired a free kick over the bar from around 25 yards.
The second half saw some improvement in play, particularly from The Bully Wee, but John Gibson was the first keeper called into action as he reacted well to claw away a potential own goal.
Scott Ferguson and Matt Flynn were introduced from the bench and their fresh legs helped to push Clyde forward in the final quarter of the match, with the winning goal coming in that period. With 70 minutes on the clock, Scott Linton’s return delivery into the box was headed back by Martin McNiff and Higgins was able to squeeze the ball into the bottom corner from close range.
Gibson made another good save to keep The Citizens out and Ferguson came close to sealing the win for The Bully Wee, but he couldn’t keep his first time shot down.
In the final minute, there was a contested decision against Edinburgh as substitute Craig Beattie headed the ball home, but the referee blew for a foul against the big forward.
Ferguson said: “It wasn’t our best performance but I’m not going to stand here and kid on, I wasn’t happy.
“I’ve had no complaints the way we’ve played all season but we didn’t play at the level we can. But the sign of a good team is when you don’t play well and you come away with three points.”