Lowland League

Saturday 18th March 2023

Kick Off 17.00 On Time!

Tranent Juniors 1 Bo’ness United 1, attendance 607

48’ 0-1

89’ 1-1

@ Foresters Park

Lindores Drive

Tranent

EH33 1JB

£8 Admission

Programme available, but I won’t buy one at any event organised by Groundhop U.K.

Next match was again heading west along the A1, where a journey time of twelve minutes saw the arrival at Foresters Park, home of Tranent Juniors, who despite having left junior football for the senior ranks in 2018, still retain ‘Juniors’ as part of their name. There was no need to rush though, as the gates weren’t even open yet, which seemed very short sighted with hoards of hungry hoppers to feed before kick off!

This evenings match was 4th versus 10th in the league table, Tranent dropping vital points, as they now drop to fifth, trailing leaders Spartans by five points, both having played the same number of games. There was not much to set the pulses racing in a very dull first half, where a free kick from the visitors, which hit the top of the crossbar just before halftime, was about the only thing of note. Thankfully, the visitors broke the deadlock within minutes of the restart and the game opened up. They almost doubled their lead shortly afterwards, but the ‘goal’ was disallowed for offside. Tranent will be happy to have got a point in the end, equalising a minute from time, when a corner wasn’t cleared and a ricochet from an attempted tackle saw the ball diverted back over the goal line. A minute later they almost nicked it, but a volleyed effort was tipped over the bar and then, with the last chance of the match, saw the visitors ‘keeper claw a header away from on the line.

Thankfully, I had already been to Musselburgh (where the ‘hop was heading for game 4 of the day) and had probably had enough by this time anyway. Three in a day is plenty! I was also pleased that I had already been to the planned Sunday morning ‘hop game at Penicuik as well. Instead, I drove a couple of hours south to my overnight hotel in Carlisle. I was then breaking up my journey home from here by taking in a rugby league match on my way home.

East of Scotland League

Premier Division

Saturday 18th March 2023

Kick Off 14.00 Actual 14.04

Haddington Athletic 1 Dundonald Bluebell 3, attendance 462

11’ 0-1

31’ 0-2

74’ 1-2

86’ 1-3 (pen)

@ Millfield

Tynebank Road

Haddington

EH41 4DB

£7 Admission

Programme available, but I won’t buy one on any event organised by Groundhop U.K.

It was an easy 18 minute drive west along the A1 to Haddington for game two of the day, where 5th hosted 8th in the E of SL Premier Division. No chance of getting a space in the car park, but ample street parking just a few minutes away.

Dundonald broke the deadlock eleven minutes in, when a long ball was controlled and lifted over the ‘keeper from 12 yards. Haddington went close when they had an effort blocked on the line following a corner, before a failure to clear a corner at their own end, saw them go 0-2 down just after the half hour mark. Twenty minutes into the second half Haddington went close again, hitting the crossbar from close range, before finally making it 1-2 with sixteen minutes left, volleying in from 6 yards. Dundonald had a goal disallowed for offside within a minute, but did make it 1-3 with four minutes left, through a penalty. Three minutes into stoppage time the visitors had a man red carded for violent conduct, but too late to make any difference to the result.

East of Scotland League

Division 1

Saturday 18th March 2023

Kick Off 11.15 On Time!

Dunbar United 0 Coldstream 1, attendance 553

76’ 0-1

@ New Countess Park

Kellie Road

Dunbar

EH42 1RF

£7 Admission

Programme available, but I won’t buy one on any event organised by Groundhop U.K.

Thankfully, I had been to the last ground of the day on the hop itinerary, so I was only doing the first three games today. First up was an East of Scotland League Division 1 game, where league leaders Dunbar United were hosting 14th placed Coldstream. It wasn’t the greatest of games, especially in the first half, largely due to a red card for Dunbar after twenty three minutes, which meant Coldstream could happily sit back and see if they could nick a point. Chances were at a premium. Dunbar went close with an effort just over the crossbar midway through the second half, before Coldstream won it just minutes later, when a cross into the box wasn’t cleared and fell perfectly for a Coldstream striker to finish with a shot on the turn. The goal did spark a bit of life into the final minutes and Dunbar had a great chance to level it up when they were awarded a penalty three minutes after falling behind, but the kick was saved by the ‘keeper. He made another vital save in the last minute as well, tipping a free kick over the crossbar. A bad day was compounded for the hosts when they had a second player red carded in stoppage time.