West of Scotland League
Division 2
Saturday 2nd May 2026
Kick Off 14.00 Actual 13.59
Blantyre Victoria 2 Ashfield 1, attendance 115
7’ 1-0
48’ 2-0
82’ 2-1
@ KG Stadium
Castle Park
Forrest Street
Blantyre
G72 0DL
£8 Admission
No Programme.
After heading north yesterday, with an overnight stop in Longtown, it was a little over an hours drive further on to Blantyre, just southeast of Glasgow, for the start of a few days north of the border. My chosen match was between two teams who’ve certainly had an illustrious past, with Blantyre Victoria having won the Scottish Junior Cup three times and been runners up once, with Ashfield having won it four times and twice been runners up. Their glory days are long gone, but the ground here at KG Stadium (Castle Park pre sponsor days) still hints of those former glories. There’s two seated stands behind one goal, with a couple of sections of open seating in front of the changing room building. Opposite, behind the dugouts, are two sections of covered standing and a bit of crumbling terracing too. There’s a tea bar too, selling the normal fayre you’d expect at a game in Scotland.
The match was 3rd versus 13th in the league table, with Blantyre unable to improve on that position and Ashfield having no relegation fears due to league restructuring at the end of the season with the expansion of the Lowland League that will cause shortages from infilling the clubs who make the step up. Unlike in England, there was no fear of teams not bothering to fulfil their fixtures, or indeed not treating the game seriously and this was a cracking game, with both teams giving it 100% from start to finish. Blantyre took a seventh minute lead, when a through ball was deflected and fell perfectly for a low shot into the far corner. Two minutes into the second half they saw a point blank save from the Ashfield ‘keeper prevent a second goal, but within a minute they did indeed double their lead, when a free kick just wide of the D beat the ‘keeper into the near bottom corner. Eight minutes from the end Ashfield pulled a goal back, when a cross from the right was touched in at the near post, making for a nervy finish for the hosts, but they were unable to force an equaliser.
