Bully Wee must do it over again
Ferguson happy to see improved display
Clyde boss Barry Ferguson praised the performance of Jordan McMillan in the Scottish Cup after he made his return following a twoyear drugs ban.
The 28-year-old was a class act in a match that saw Clyde’s Peter MacDonald and Stirling’s Dylan Bikey net doubles to take the tie to a replay.
Defender McMillan is rebuilding his career after traces of cocaine were found in his sample after Partick Thistle’s match at Celtic in December 2014.
Ferguson said: “Jordan has signed for us short term but he should be playing three levels above. I’ve no doubt about that.
“That’s his first game in two years and he looked like he’d never been away.
“He was excellent and the situation is, if somebody comes in with a full-time option I’m not going to stand in his way.
“His attitude and professionalism has been unbelievable. And it’s rubbed off on some of our guys.”
Clyde will host Stirling in a fourth round replay at Broadwood on Tuesday next week after an excellent performance at Forthbank.
Ferguson made three changes to the team following a league defeat to The Binos a fortnight ago, with short- term signing McMillan, John Gibson and Chris Smith coming in for Michael Oliver, Brett Long and the injured Scott Linton.
A fairly even first half ended with a 1-1 scoreline following two good goals.
The home side took an early lead when the dangerous Bikey managed to escape Ross Perry on the left wing and, after cutting inside, his slightly deflected shot found the bottom corner of the net.
However, Clyde’s workrate was clear to see and a well-deserved equaliser came after 24 minutes, when David Gormley did well to find Peter MacDonald with a disguised pass and The Bully Wee’s top scorer made no mistake, beating Cammy Binnie from the edge of the box.
On 62 minutes, MacDonald sparked a big celebration amongst the away support when, following a ball into the box, Sean Higgins set him up and he smashed a low shot into the far corner of the net for his 16th goal of the season.
With 76 minutes on the clock, there was a major turning point when MacDonald was brought down by Binnie and the referee awarded a penalty after receiving advice from the assistant referee. MacDonald took the spot-kick, but Binnie produced a fine save to push the ball out for a corner.
The miss proved to be costly as Bikey punished Clyde once more. He pounced on a loose ball in the box and gave John Gibson no chance to make it 2-2 with only a few minutes left to play.
Ferguson said: “I was delighted with the attitude of the players – that was more like us. That’s the level they are capable of playing at.”