Update
After the longest gap in posts in the history of the Universe, I’ve finally written up my account of the friendly between Chimney Corner and Larne, which I saw in Northern Ireland back in July.
I am going to try and bring the site up to date over the next month or so.
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Chimney Corner 1-2 Larne
Matchday 5
Thursday, July 16, 2009 – Allen Park, Antrim
A bit obscure this one, but an enjoyable way to end my Northern Irish mini tour.
Chimney Corner play in the third level of Irish football, a level which in terms of playing standard and facilities appears to be roughly equivalent to good Junior level in Scotland.
On this occasion the Antrim side gave a good account of themselves at home to Larne, a side from the division above. Continue reading ‘Chimney Corner 1-2 Larne’
Filed under: Friendlies | 1 Comment
Tags: Antrim, Chimney Corner, Irish football, Larne, Northern Ireland
Crusaders 1-1 FK Rabotnicki
Matchday 4
Tuesday, July 14, 2009 – Mourneview Park, Lurgan
Although not the only reason for my trip across the Irish Sea to Northern Ireland, I was keen to shoehorn in a couple of games between doing all the usual tourist stuff, like visiting the Giant’s Causeway and the Carrick-a-rede rope bridge.
With hindsight I could have picked a better time of the year to go. Although the Province is generally peaceful these days, tensions between the Protestant and Catholic communities tend to rise in mid July, coinciding with the marching season.
My first taste of football in Northern Ireland turned out to be quite eventful on and off the park as Crusaders got a decent result against Macedonian opposition. Continue reading ‘Crusaders 1-1 FK Rabotnicki’
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Tags: Belfast, Crusaders, Europa League, FC Rabotnicki, Irish football, Macedonia, Northern Ireland
Matchday 3
Saturday, July 11, 2009 – Forthbank Stadium, Stirling
Pre-season games always have the potential to be a snorefest, but when you get a decent contest together with some lovely summer weather they can really enjoyable, like this one was.
Despite the season being only a fortnight away there wasn’t abundance of options in my local area.
Junior clubs aren’t permitted to play at all until the third Saturday in July while my own team Livingston’s game against Falkirk had to be played behind closed doors because of a lack of a safety certificate for Almondvale Stadium.
With the sun splitting the skies, I decided to go slightly further afield to Stirling, accessible relatively easily by train from Linlithgow. Continue reading ‘Stirling Albion 1-1 Partick Thistle’
Filed under: Friendlies | 1 Comment
Tags: friendly, Glasgow, Partick Thistle, pre-season, Stirling, Stirling Albion
Matchday 2
Saturday July 4, 2009 – Victoria Park, Innerleithen
Another warm and sunny day brought this opportunity to see my first ‘friendly’ of the new season as Scottish League side Annan Athletic visited Vale of Leithen of the East of Scotland League.
The small Peebleshire town of Innerleithen is set in some lovely Border countryside and Victoria Park has some of the most picturesque vistas to be found anywhere in Scottish football.
The weather and scenery alone made this trip worthwhile, but the game turned out to be pretty decent too. Continue reading ‘Vale of Leithen 2-1 Annan Athletic’
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Tags: Annan Athletic, Annan, Vale of Leithen, Innerleithen, Borders, friendly, Peebleshire
Motherwell 0-1 Llanelli
Matchday 1
Matchday 1Thursday July 2, 2009 – Excelsior Stadium, Airdrie
Having seen a number of Intertoto Cup failures over the last few seasons, I had hoped that I’d seen the back of ill-prepared European forays by Scottish clubs with the introduction of the new ‘Europa League’ this summer.
Alas, not!
Not only was this a pretty dire game of football, but it produced a disaster of a result for Motherwell and their new manager Jim Gannon, with the plucky part-timers of Llanelli heading back to Wales with a first leg lead and precious away goal. Continue reading ‘Motherwell 0-1 Llanelli’
Filed under: European Club Competitions | 2 Comments
Tags: Airdrie, Europa League, Llanelli, Motherwell, Scotland, UEFA, Wales
Pollok 0-1 Irvine Meadow XI
June 18, 2009 – Newlandsfield Park, GlasgowThe Evening Times Cup final pitched the two best sides in the West of Scotland together to bring down the curtain on the Scottish Junior football season. It also signaled the end of my own campaign, which began at Easter Road on July 6 last year.
All told, the season for me consisted of 105 games (well, there was one extremely late postponement and an abandonment) spread over 347 days.
There have been ups and downs along the way, and to be honest this game was a pretty flat way to finish. Meadow scored the only goal in the first half and took their fourth trophy of a great season against a Pollok team that looked a little short of ideas and energy.
Filed under: Junior Football (West Region) | 2 Comments
Tags: Evening Times, Glasgow, Irvine, Irvine Meadow, Pollok, Scottish junior football
Tony Kempster RIP
As much as I love football, it is often put in perspective by sad news like the death of Tony Kempster, from cancer, which happened yesterday.
I didn’t know Tony. I didn’t even exchange as much as an email with the man, but I do visit his excellent website and messageboard on a daily basis.
Although primarily concerned with English non-league football, Tony’s website is a truly awesome collection of information.
Judging by the comments on the messageboard today, Tony appears to have been a remarkable man, revered for his efforts in promoting the beautiful game.
RIP Tony.
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Tags: Tony Kempster
June 11, 2009 – New Dundas Park, Bonnyrigg
After flying back into Edinburgh after a business trip, I got to Bonnyrigg just as this MJM Flooring (St Michael’s) Cup final kicked off.
I needn’t have bothered rushing because as far as the entertainment went, it was well into the second half before the game really burst into life.
The course of the game turned, to an extent, on a harsh second half red card for the Linlithgow right back, but even then the game was scoreless and looking like heading to penalties with 89 minutes gone.
Musselburgh got in front, only for Rose to hit back with an injury time penalty. A shoot-out decider loomed again with more than four minutes of stoppage time played but Musselburgh snatched the cup with a dramatic headed winner – the last action of the game.
More asap… Continue reading ‘Musselburgh Athletic 2-1 Linlithgow Rose’
Filed under: Junior Football (East Region) | Leave a Comment
Tags: Bonnyrigg, cup final, Linlithgow, Linlithgow Rose, Midlothian, Musselburgh, Musselburgh Athletic, New Dundas Park, Scottish junior football, St Michael's Cup
Pollok 3-1 Auchinleck Talbot
June 8, 2009 – Newlandsfield Park, Glasgow
Another Evening Times Cup tie and a bit more entertaining this time.
Pollok and Talbot are amongst the strongest junior sides in Scotland and the standard of play was excellent, especially considering the arduous schedule of games for both sides recently.
Talbot scored first and each side sustained a controversial red card apiece in the first half. Pollok came on strong in the second half and won through thanks to a trio of goals from the inside right channel.
Filed under: Junior Football (West Region) | 1 Comment
Tags: Auchinleck, Auchinleck Talbot, Evening Times, Glasgow, Newlandsfield Park, Pollok, Scottish junior football
(Blantyre Vics won 4-2 on penalties)
June 6, 2009 – Castle Park, Blantyre
All the teams in the SJFA West Region who win a league or cup are entered into the end of season Evening Times Cup, which traditionally brings the curtain down on the Scottish Junior campaign.
This was the Central District Division 2 champions (Vics) against Central District Division 1 winners (Glencairn), so the home win should probably go down as a minor shock.
In truth this was a pretty awful game and neither side really looked like scoring during the ninety minutes. Vics held their nerve in the shoot-out scoring all four of their kicks while the visitors missed their first and third.
More soon… Continue reading ‘Blantyre Victoria 0-0 Rutherglen Glencairn’
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Tags: Blantyre, Blantyre Vics, Blantyre Victoria, Castle Park, Evening Times, Lanarkshire, Rutherglen, Rutherglen Glencairn, Scottish junior football
(Match abandoned after 20 minutes)
June 4, 2009 – Olivebank Park, Musselburgh
Game 101 for the season might be consigned to Room 101 after it was abandoned after barely twenty minutes play.
The game, an MJM Flooring Cup semi final was only just getting into it’s stride when Musselburgh’s no 8 Martin Murphy went down in the centre circle. At the time he was assumed to have suffered a broken leg, but it has since been reported as a dislocated kneecap, a really nasty sounding injury.
An ambulance made it onto Olivebank within ten minutes but before he was whisked away to hospital the match referee made a rather controversial decision to call a halt to proceedings. Continue reading ‘Musselburgh Athletic A-A Whitburn’
Filed under: Junior Football (East Region) | Leave a Comment
Tags: abandoned, East Lothian, injury, Martin Murphy, Musselburgh, Musselburgh Athletic, Scottish junior football, Whitburn
Auchinleck Talbot 2-1 Clydebank
May 31, 2009 – Rugby Park, Kilmarnock
The highlight of the Scottish Junior football season, my 100th game of the season and a warm sunny day to boot.
All I needed to top things off was a Scottish Junior Cup victory for Clydebank but the brave Bankies fell short against the seasoned Auchinleck Talbot who lifted the trophy for a record eighth time.
The game, watched by just over 8000, was a decent spectacle with all the goals coming inside sixteen second half minutes.
More asap… Continue reading ‘Auchinleck Talbot 2-1 Clydebank’
Filed under: Junior Football (West Region), Scottish Junior Cup | 3 Comments
Tags: Auchinleck, Auchinleck Talbot, Ayrshire, Clydebank, Kilmarnock, Scottish Junior Cup, Scottish junior football
May 28, 2009 – Beechwood Park, Sauchie
More often than not end of season games are crap unless there’s something at stake. How refreshing, then, to see Sauchie and West Calder United put their all into what was essentially a ‘meaningless’ game.
There was a genuine competitive edge to this clash in picturesque Clackmannanshire and enough goals to keep the small crowd happy.
In the end, the home side rescued a point in the latter stages, coming from 3-1 down to earn a draw which was just about fair.
More asap… Continue reading ‘Sauchie Juniors 3-3 West Calder United’
Filed under: Junior Football (East Region) | Leave a Comment
Tags: Alloa, Clackmannanshire, Sauchie, Scottish junior football, West Calder United
May 26, 2009 – Central Park, Whitburn
This was a big game for both sides, with Camelon needing a win to maintain their hopes of overhauling Bonnyrigg Rose at the top of the East Super League.
Bottom of the table Whitburn needed a result to get themselves out of deep relegation trouble and they got one with a convincing home win.
The game turned with two Burnie goals inside two first half minutes with a third goal coming in the closing stages. Continue reading ‘Whitburn Juniors 3-1 Camelon Juniors’
Filed under: Junior Football (East Region) | Leave a Comment
Tags: Camelon, Falkirk, Scottish junior football, West Lothian, Whitburn
(Hibernian win 8-7 on penalties)
May 20, 2009 – Tynecastle Park, Edinburgh
Hibs’ youth team made it a trophy treble by beating bitter rivals Hearts on penalties in the East of Scotland Shield match at Tynecastle, adding one of Scottish football’s oldest prizes to their SPL championship and Scottish Youth Cup double.
A very competitive and entertaining encounter saw Hearts take the game to penalties by virtue of an injury time goal from Scott Robinson after Kurtis Byrne had given Hibs a second half lead.
More asap… Continue reading ‘Heart of Midlothian 1-1 Hibernian’
Filed under: Local Cup Competitions, Youth Football | 2 Comments
Tags: East of Scotland Shield, Edinburgh, Heart of Midlothian, Hearts, Hibernian, Hibs, Tynecastle
Queen’s Park 0-0 Stenhousemuir
May 17, 2009 – Hampden Park, Glasgow
I always enjoy a trip to the home of Scottish football but as a spectacle this game wasn’t really up to much.
Queen’s needed a win to overturn Stenhousemuir’s 2-1 first leg advantage but they rarely looked capable of getting the goals they needed.
There were a couple of good moments for the Spiders in the second half, but they crashed out of the Second Division with more of a whimper than a bang. Stenny, meanwhile, will now face Cowdenbeath over two legs with promotion up for grabs.
More to follow… Continue reading ‘Queen’s Park 0-0 Stenhousemuir’
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Tags: Glasgow, Hampden Park, National Stadium, play-off, Queen's Park, Scotland, Scottish Football League, Stenhousemuir
May 16, 2009 – Ore Park, Glencraig
A Saturday afternoon trip into deepest Fife to Ore Park, home of Ballingry Rovers.
For the uninitiated, Ballingry Rovers don’t play in Ballingry because Ore Park is in Glencraig, a very small place a mile or two south. Lochore Welfare actually play closer to Ballingry than Ballingry Rovers do, but their ground is in Crosshill, not Lochore. Follow me?
To confuse matters further, to get to any of these places you need to get off the train at Lochgelly! Continue reading ‘Ballingry Rovers 0-2 Dundonald Bluebell’
Filed under: Junior Football (East Region) | Leave a Comment
Tags: Ballingry, Ballingry Rovers, Cardenden, Dundonald Bluebell, Fife, Glencraig, Scottish junior football
May 13, 2009 – Ochilview Park, Stenhousemuir
I have to confess to having a wee soft spot for East Stirlingshire, so I ventured along to this game in the hope of seeing them take a step towards some long overdue and much deserved success.
Stenhousemuir’s Ochilview Park was the venue, as it is for all the Shire home games nowadays, with their homely and humble Firs Park now languishing in the football ground equivalent of the knackers yard. Continue reading ‘East Stirlingshire 1-2 Cowdenbeath’
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Tags: Cowdenbeath, East Stirlingshire, Falkirk, Ochilview, play-offs, Scottish Football League, Stenhousemuir
May 11, 2009 – Recreation Park, Pumpherston
In contrast to Saturday’s downpours, the weather was glorious for this meeting of two of West Lothian’s lesser Junior clubs.
The venue for this end-of-season encounter was Recreation Park, which is tucked in amongst houses just off the main road through Pumpherston in West Lothian. Continue reading ‘Pumpherston Juniors 1-3 Stoneyburn Juniors’
Filed under: Junior Football (East Region) | Leave a Comment
Tags: Pumpherston, Scottish junior football, Stoneyburn, West Lothian
