Strikers crossing balls ultimately clinching contest (8)
I believe the answer is:
forwards
'strikers' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'crossing balls ultimately clinching contest' is the wordplay.
'crossing balls ultimately' becomes 'fords' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'clinching' is an insertion indicator.
'contest' becomes 'war' (I've seen this in other clues).
'fords' placed around 'war' is 'FORWARDS'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for forwards that I've seen before include "pack" , "Ahead in time; in the normal order" , "Football players" , "Passes on" , "Attacking players" .)