Football Stadia Tour 4: Broadwood

We're in the depths of December but at this point of this seasons Odyssey of the Irn Bru Scottish Division 1 grounds we wind ourselves in one of the coldest most exposed locations imaginable; Broadwood home of Clyde.


Location

Clyde currently play at Cumbernauld, although they were originally from Rutherglen. You can see the fast Edinburgh to Glasgow railway line from the stadium and Croy station is the nearest station, although getting from there to the stadium can be a chore. However, there is amble parking around hte stadium, although the signs for the away fans parking does disappear just at the crucial roundabout if heading south past hte stadium. Just remember once you pass the floodlights at the next roundabout turn right, you'll see the only sign on the exit and then mind the speed humps on the approach to the stadium.

The Ground

Has the air of being unfinished about it largely because there are currently three excellent stands and a big hole to the north with a corrugated iron wall behind that goal line, over which many a ball disappears into the marsh beyond. The Main Stand to the East of the pitch and the opposing West Stand were the first two to be completed at Clyde's third permanent home, after Barrowfield Park and Shawfield Stadium. And were first used in February 1994 after an almost 8 year wandering first to Firhill (Partick Thistle) and New Douglas Park (Hamilton Academical) who will feature later in this season's travels.

The three stand put down is often aimed at Clyde fans on message boards, that plus their current distance from the Clyde. But it is one of the many first division stadiums that meet the current seating requirements for the SPL, although they would have to install a good undersoil system if they ever were to find themselves in such a position. (Ironically the game the following week was called off to a frozen pitch)


The Atmosphere

Both sets of fans were housed in the Main Stand, which although it left vast areas of empty seats did concentrate the fans atmosphere to close quarters. Shouts and gestures were easily aimed at the rival support in this game where both teams held the upper hand at times.

The Programme

Cost £2.50. This is award winning stuff, and rightly so has been the Scottish Football programme of the years every season since the 1995-6 season. It is 76 pages from multiple contributors on a whole range of issues, history, form, stats etc. It also has 8 pages dedicated to the visitors which was thoroughly researched and up t date.

Pie and Bovril

Good steak pie served here and an excellent cup of bovril. I forgot to note the price so will have to check on the second visit later in the season.

Edited: Pie £1.70, Bovril £1.40.

Cost

Admission £15
Programme £2.50
(Bacon Butty) and Bovril £3.10
Total £20.60

League Table of Cost
Morton £17.90
Clyde £20.60
Dunfermline £21.50
Dundee £21.60

Match Report

Having watched our Lions beat the league leaders the week before the away support was pumped up for more of the same. The proximity of Cumbernauld to Livingston making this virtually a Derby match also meant there were some unfamiliar faces in the travelling support.

And the Livi Lions carried off where they left off against Hamilton. Playing flowing football which was rewarding in the 8th minute by another Graham Dorran's goal, when he headed in a Robert Snodgrass cross. Somehow the stadium announcer and subsequently Clyde fans believed that Snoddy had scored as a result of his own cross. If he did I've never seen anyone move that fast. We may not have a 20 goal a season striker but Graham is almost on track to be a 20 goal this season midfielder. After the goal went in we continued to apply the pressure for maybe another 12 minutes but didn't find that elusive second goal. Then the home side started to wake up to the fact that their long ball and hope tactics weren't working and looked for more productive ways to get into the Livi half. Unfortunately our defenders and midfield started to give Clyde the room and time to refine these tactics more carefully.

Having not had that second goal our early joy turned to anxiety as we hoped that we might hold out under this sudden arrival of pressure until half time so that the manager Mark Proctor could pull the team together with some words at half time. Sadly Clydes Craig McKeown finally got what was a deserved equaliser in the 43rd minute and the Clyde support suddenly came back to life.

The second half it appeared that only one team had come out to play. Livingston didn't seem to be wanting to get back ahead. With 15 minutes to go with the Livi goal under increasing pressure the inevitable happened and Neil McGregor ran past our defence and slotted home what turned out to only be the winner. Colin Stewart managed to pull off three spectacular saves which prevented the scoreline being worse than it was. 2-1 in the end flattered Livi another case of Jekyll one week Mr Hyde the next.


Final Score Clyde 2 Livingston 1 (Morton: McKeown 43, McGregor 75. Livingston:
Graham Dorrans 8)

Effect on the relative teams' positions. Morton lost more heavily than Livi so our spot in third was actually strengthened from goals scored to goal difference. Clyde however, jumped over Queen of the South into 7th place.

Next time it's off to last season's happy hunting ground of McDairmid Park, Perth home of St. Johnstone.

Previous Stadia Dens Park, East End Park