East of Scotland League

Conference A

Sunday 31st March 2019

Kick Off 12.30 Actual 12.32

Peebles Rovers 1 Newtongrange Star 3, attendance 288

13’ 0-1

41’ 0-2

72’ 1-2

79’ 1-3

@ Whitestone Park

Innerleithen Road

Peebles

EH45 8BA

£5 Admission

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

At last, we finally got round to the ground that made the trip worthwhile. Whitestone Park hosted Scottish Football League matches from 1923 until 1926 when Peebles Rovers had their brief stint as a member of the Scottish League and it also recorded its record attendance around that time, where according to reports, there have twice been crowds of 1,500 for Scottish F.A. Cup matches there. It is a far cry from the 50 or so that watch them these days and even with the Groundhop UK fanfare in town, they still drew less than 300 and that figure will include a number who chose to enter the park by a different entrance in order to avoid the fiver admission price!

Peebles are 10th (4th bottom) in the league table and never looked liked beating fourth placed Newtongrange. The pitch didn’t help, being more suited to rugby union, which is probably the main sport here in the Scottish Borders, rather than football. Star never looked like losing it once they were 0-2 up and they still looked in control when Peebles pulled a goal back, but the two goal lead was soon restored.

At least with this being the final game of this years Scottish Groundhop, it meant we were already heading in the right direction for home, although the road back to the motorway is quite slow, but we did have a relatively trouble free journey. With a first drop off in Uxbridge, then on to Slough, where I collected my car, it was back via Staines to drop off the last member of our party, before I arrived home at 22.45…… By not buying the programmes, which were nearly all rubbish by all accounts, and paying for matches on the day, which is always cheaper than an advanced ticket, it meant the trip (split 4 ways for fuel and hotel) cost me £140 less than if I had travelled on the official coach from London……….

East of Scotland League

Conference C

Saturday 30th March 2019

Kick Off 20.00. On Time !

Linlithgow Rose 3 Jeanfield Swifts 2, attendance 530

7’ 0-1

16’ 1-1

39’ 2-1

46’ 2-2

64’ 3-2 (pen)

@ Prestonfield

Braehead Road

Linlithgow

EH49 6HF

£6 Admission

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

So, onto the fourth match of a long day and another ground that I had already visited. I came here back on 29th May 2004 when I saw Linlithgow lose 1-2 to Tayport in a Scottish Junior F.A. East Region Super League match. The match that day had a far bigger crowd than tonight, whether you believe the 618 figure claimed by Groundhop UK on their twitter, or the 530 crowd announced by the club over the tannoy.

At least I remembered this ground, well, the impressive main stand anyway, unlike my revisit at Camelon this morning. The match was second versus third in the league table and was far and away the best match of the five games so far on this weekends ‘hop, with a really good contest between two evenly matched teams. It was a shame it didn’t finish as a draw, because Jeanfield did enough to have got something out of the game.

Today has been something of an endurance test, especially with two of the matches being revisits, and it is a shame that cramming in a fourth match means the games blur into each other a bit and it would be much better if just three matches were scheduled instead. It would be nice to have a little more time to relax between matches.

East of Scotland League

Conference C

Saturday 30th March 2019

Kick Off 17.15 Actual 17.16

Blackburn United 4 Preston Athletic 1, attendance 328

3’ 1-0 (pen)

6’ 2-0

65’ 3-0

78’ 3-1

83’ 4-1

@ New Murrayfield Park

Ash Grove

Blackburn

EH47 7LL

£6 Admission

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

Back on 11th October 2003 I attended the noon kick off between Blackburn United and Clydebank in a Scottish Junior F.A. Cup 1st Round match, which finished 1-1 (doubled with Pumpherston Juniors 4 Fraserburgh United 2, in the same competition, at 3 o’clock). The ground used that day runs parallel to New Murrayfield Park and is behind the trees that run behind the stand on the halfway line, which is the same stand from the old ground, having been dismantled and rebuilt next door.

If Dunipace won the award for being the biggest rip off club of the weekend, then Blackburn would easily take the prize for being the best value for money and they showed you can still make a good profit without fleecing your customers, even if it is the only time you are ever going to see them. The chicken curry with rice, at just £2 per portion, was well received by all those that managed to get some before it unsurprisingly sold out.

The match got off to a lightning start, with Blackburn 2-0 up in the first six minutes and Preston never really recovered, in what was a bit of a shock result.

There was a discrepancy with the crowd figure. Groundhop UK were claiming it was 372, but the club announced over the tannoy that it was actually only 328.

East Of Scotland League

Conference C

Saturday 30th March 2019

Kick Off 14.15 Actual 14.16

Inverkeithing Hillfield Swifts 2 Heriot Watt University 4, attendance 301

27’ 0-1

32’ 0-2

58’ 0-3

71’ 1-3

73’ 2-3

82’ 2-4 (pen)

@ Ballast Bank

Preston Crescent

Inverkeithing

KY11 1DS

£5 Admission

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

I wasn’t expecting much here, as I knew it was nothing more than a railed pitch inside an old cinder running track. However, on a sunny day, the lack of any cover would not be a problem. There was also the view of the Forth Road/Rail Bridges, although as it was only the tops that were visible, unless you knew what they were, they could easily go unnoticed. At least this would be a new ground for me, following the two revisits of last night and this morning.

This is the debut season for Inverkeithing at this level and they have found it difficult, coming into this third bottom in the league table. Heriot Watt were far superior, racing into a comfortable 0-3 lead and Inverkeithing only came into it once they had a man red carded, but having a further two players sent off towards the end of the match meant a comeback didn’t look on. However, they certainly made it interesting when they scored twice in three minutes to pull it back to 2-3, but the students wrapped it up when they scored their fourth goal from the penalty spot.

With two games down and a further two still to go today, it was south over the Forth for the next instalment.

East of Scotland League

Conference C

Saturday 30th March 2019

Kick Off 11.00. On Time !

Camelon Juniors 5 Edinburgh United 1, attendance 352

10’ 1-0

12’ 2-0

27’ 3-0

41’ 3-1 (pen)

45’ 4-1

48’ 5-1

@ Carmuirs Park

Fairlie Drive

Camelon

Falkirk

FK1 4NP

£6 Admission

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

So, after only ever revisiting two grounds in Scotland before last night, I was now doing my second in a little over 13 hours. My last visit here was on a Friday night, when Camelon drew 1-1 with Bo’ ness United (who will play their remaining matches here this season whilst an artificial pitch is laid at their own ground) in a Scottish Junior F.A. East Region Super League match on 11th May 2007. Despite it only being 12 years ago, I had little recollection of the ground, which is very surprising considering what a gem it is. From the outside, it felt very familiar, but once through the turnstiles, it was as if I was stepping into the unknown. These days I take photographs, so hopefully it will help me remember some of the places a bit more clearly in the future!

Edinburgh United were never really in this and were lucky to escape with just a 5-1 thrashing, as Camelon dominated throughout. The win means Camelon finish third in the league table.

East of Scotland League

Conference B

Friday 29th March 2019

Kick Off 20.00. On Time !

Dunipace 0 Bonnyrigg Rose 4, attendance 380

7’ 0-1

61’ 0-2

85’ 0-3

88’ 0-4

@ Westfield Park

Town House Street

Denny

FK6 5DX

£6 Admission

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

I made a very late decision on Thursday evening to travel north for this years Scottish Groundhop, having been offered a rare lift, despite the fact that I had already visited three of the six grounds that were hosting the event. Before this weekend I had only revisited two grounds in Scotland, namely Raydale Park in Gretna and Victoria Park, Dingwall, the home of Ross County, but I would add to these over the next two days.

I had been to Westfield Park before, back in May 2005, when I saw Dunipace Juniors host Yorker Athletic in a Scottish Junior F.A. West Region Central League Division 1 match, but the ground has completely changed since then. Gone are any hint of character and in its place is a really bland, but functional ground, complete with the now so common artificial pitch. Only the old changing rooms have survived, albeit spruced up.

Dunipace have now dropped the ‘Juniors’ from their name, having moved across to the East of Scotland League this season, which is classed as ‘Senior’ football north of the border. As is the norm on a Groundhop UK event, there are the usual price hikes involved, but this was taken to the extreme here, with the catering side going well overboard in charging a ridiculous fiver for a basic pie and bovril. In fact, it appeared that everything was doubled in price, when listening to the comments of the more regular attendees.

As for the match, Bonnyrigg won it without having to break sweat, and they looked like they could score whenever they felt like it, but settled with just the four goals, the third of which was a ‘Panenka’ from the penalty spot. The win means they top Conference B and head for the play offs against the winners of the other two divisions, to give an overall champion.

Belgium

West Vlaanderen Provincial 3B

Wednesday 27th March 2019

Kick Off 20.00 Actual 20.01

V.K. Dudzele 0 K.S.K. Snaaskerke 4, attendance 51

9’ 0-1 (pen)

30’ 0-2

35’ 0-3

78’ 0-4

@ Amaat Vynckestraat

8380 Dudzele

€5 Admission

Team Sheet, free.

With no unvisited grounds available in England, it was once again Belgium that came to the rescue in avoiding a blank midweek. This match had actually been called off a few weeks ago, due to high winds, so it was rescheduled perfectly!

Dudzele are 15th (second bottom) in the league table, whilst Snaaskerke started the day in eighth place. The visitors opened the scoring within ten minutes, from the penalty spot, following a handball. A goal on the break, then a tap in, following a fumble by the home ‘keeper, saw their lead increase to 0-3 before halftime. Dudzele did hit a post and have a couple of efforts wide of the target in the second half, but Snaaskerke finished things off when the ‘keeper was tackled on the edge of his 18 yard box, with the ball then rolled into the empty net. The win moves Snaaskerke up to fifth place in the league table.

Despite the freight suffering long queues, the passenger service on The Tunnel was miraculously running to schedule. In fact, our 14.20 outbound journey ran four minutes early, with the 23.50 return being three minutes ahead of schedule!

Devon & Exeter League

Seaton Challenge Cup 1st Round

Sunday 24th March 2019

Kick Off 13.00 Actual 12.59

Kentisbeare 4 Beer Albion 1, attendance 55

8’ 1-0

37’ 2-0

39’ 3-0

46’ 3-1

86’ 4-1

@ Rectory Park

Kentisbeare

EX15 2BR

No Admission or Programme.

So, for the second successive Sunday, I found myself down in East Devon, but this time for a match in the Seaton Challenge Cup, which has been contested for since 1949. Beer Albion have won the cup 11 times, but the most recent being back in 1998, whilst Kentisbeare have never won it, although they have made far fewer appearances, so perhaps not a surprise.

Kentisbeare are currently top of Division 1, with Beer Albion lying tenth in the Premier Division, so we were expecting an even contest. The hosts went ahead early on and limited the visitors to efforts from long range. It looked all over by halftime, with Kentisbeare 3-0 up, but when Beer pulled a goal back, within a minute of the restart, it looked like a comeback may have been on, but despite an initial period of pressure, they couldn’t add to their tally and the game saw no more goals until Kentisbeare finished things off with a late strike to make it 4-1.

Herts Senior County League

Premier Division

Saturday 23rd March 2019

Kick Off 15.00. On Time !

Evergreen 1 Chipperfield Corinthians 3, attendance 31

9’ 0-1 (pen)

31’ 0-2

45’+ 2, 0-3

56’ 1-3

@ Southway

Entrance via Essex Lane

Abbots Langley

WD4 8PN

No Admission or Programme.

This is the second successive season where Evergreen have been the only club that I haven’t visited in the Premier Division of this league, so it was about time that I got round to completing the set, with the action played out adjacent to the imposing Warner Bros. Studios.

A couple of weeks ago, bottom of the league table Sun Sports pulled out of the league, which meant their results were expunged from the table and that there will now be only one team relegated at the end of the season. This was not good news for Evergreen, as they had taken four points from their two matches against them, and also, it then left Evergreen bottom of the league in their place, whilst third from bottom Broadfields are a point ahead of them, but they lose no points from Sun Sports demise as they had only played them once and they lost that, so were unaffected.

Chipperfield started the day in seventh place in the league and looked far too good for the hosts from the off. By halftime it was 0-3 and there looked like little chance of a comeback, which turned out to be the case. Evergreen did pull one goal back, with a goal awarded by the Linesman, who thought the ball had crossed the goal line, but it certainly didn’t, as I was stood much nearer the incident and it was nowhere near and a perfect headed clearance up onto the crossbar by the defender.

It may turn out to be irrelevant as to whether Evergreen finish bottom or not, as during a conversation at halftime, I was told that they are hoping to join the Spartan South Midlands League next season.

Football League Youth Alliance

Merit League 1

Saturday 23rd March 2019

Kick Off 11.00. On Time !

Stevenage U18 4 A.F.C. Bournemouth U18 0, attendance 79

21’ 1-0

26’ 2-0

31’ 3-0

80’ 4-0

@ Shephalbury Sports Academy

Broadhall Way

Stevenage

SG2 8RH

No Admission or Programme.

Stevenage are one of the clubs who openly advertise their youth matches as being open to the public, and it pays off, as this was one of the better crowds that I have seen at this level of the youth leagues. It was also easy to check where the match was being played, as it is possible to telephone the venue, which was worthwhile yesterday, as I learned that the match would be kicking off at 11 o’clock, which is half an hour later than they normally start here, although the Bournemouth website had the game down for a noon start.

Bournemouth actually looked the better side early on, but three goals in a ten minute spell, including missing a penalty when it was 1-0, saw Stevenage take control by the half hour mark and they never looked like being pegged back. It was a surprise that we had to wait until ten minutes from the end to see a goal in the second half, but an unstoppable shot from the corner of the 18 yard box rounded off the scoring.