Teenager keeps Bully Wee in Cup
Debut keeper makes crucial saves at Ayr
Barry Ferguson hailed debut Clyde keeper Connor Quinn after he made a string of top saves to force a replay with Ayr United.
The 18- year- old only signed from Livingston last Friday with regular John Gibson banned.
But the teenager stepped up to the plate to defy Ayr time and time again in the Scottish Cup fifth-round tie.
His new gaffer Ferguson said: “Connor is only a young boy but he’s confident and you don’t see that in many youngsters now. He did really well.
“We came here to try to win but a draw was fair.”
While handing Quinn his debut, Ferguson also brought Scott Ferguson back into the team.
The new keeper, who also had a spell on loan at Pumpherston Juniors last season, was quickly called in to action in the opening few minutes.
He did well to get down low to push a Gary Harkins effort wide and that was the start of a superb first half for the youngster.
Further impressive saves followed as he twice denied Declan McDaid, once from point blank range, kept out Craig McGuffie’s curling effort and perhaps his best moment was when he raced off his line to stop McDaid again in a one-on-one situation.
There was also a big let-off for Clyde when Nicky Devlin’s deflected shot came off both posts and somehow stayed out.
However, it wasn’t all about the home side and Scott McLaughlin saw his free-kick from the edge of the box deflected by the wall and Peter MacDonald’s volley drifted wide of the post.
Clyde started the second half well and around 450 away supporters were given the chance to celebrate after 55 minutes, when David Gormley collected the ball in space in the box and his low shot found the net.
As The Bully Wee enjoyed their best spell of the match, Sean Higgins’ low shot from distance agonisingly hit the inside of the post.
The Honest Men capitalised on that piece of luck a few minutes later when, following a corner that wasn’t fully cleared, Paul Cairney was able to force the ball into the net .
In the closing stages, Ayr pushed hard for a winning goal and Daryll Meggatt’s header flashed wide of the post before Quinn rounded off a fine individual performance in injury time when he dived to his left to prevent Cairney from scoring again.
Ayr boss Ian McCall admitted: “I was worried at half-time after hitting both posts and missing some terrific chances. I’m just pleased to still be in the hat.”
The sides were set to play the fifth round replay at Broadwood last night (Tuesday) after the Reformer had went to print.
The winner of the tie will play either Hearts or Hibernian away in the quarter final on the weekend of March 4-5.