East of Scotland League

Division 1 Conference A

Saturday 2nd October 2021

Kick Off 11.15 Actual 11.13

Dalkeith Thistle 8 Tweedmouth Rangers 2, attendance 309

6’ 0-1

31’ 1-1

35’ 1-2

50’ 2-2

58’ 3-2 (pen)

61’ 4-2

66’ 5-2

70’ 6-2

77’ 7-2

90’ 8-2

@ King’s Park

Croft Street

Dalkeith

EH22 3BA

£7 Admission

£2 Programme, didn’t bother as I won’t buy one on any event organised by Groundhop U.K.

Thankfully, of the six grounds hosting games on the ‘Scottish Ground Hop’, there were only two being played at grounds I was yet to see a match at. To be fair though, the Scottish ‘hops are far less overbearing than those held down south, as the locals are not taken in by the fanfare that surrounds the event. Unlike the open fields and recreation grounds that are visited down south for these events, where most clubs rarely get more than a couple of dozen spectators for a normal home match, these are proper clubs, with proper grounds and many of them already attract good crowds, even without the influx of around 150 extra punters that turn up as part of the ground hops. At least you are not forced to buy a programme and apart from the admission price possibly being a quid or two more than normal, it is more like doing the game on any day of the season. Clubs are also ‘advised’ to scrap the offer of a concession price (I’m not old enough to qualify for this yet!), which certainly doesn’t go down well with regular supporters who turn up every week and must leave a poor impression of ground hoppers once the fanfare rolls back out of town, never to be seen again.

This morning’s match was 10th versus 12th in the league table. The first half was a decent contest, with the visitors twice taking the lead to go in 1-2 up at the break. Two minutes into the second half the game turned on it’s head when the Tweedmouth No.9 was red carded for an alleged elbow in an off the ball incident. It only took Dalkeith three minutes to level the scores at 2-2. Eight minutes later they went ahead from the penalty spot and the resistance of the 10 men was broken. Five more goals were added in a very one sided second half. The red card certainly spoiled the game from a neutral point of view.

The ‘hop was heading to Bonnyrigg Rose for their next instalment, but having already been there, I would be going elsewhere, but it would need to be within easy reach of Easthouses, where the scheduled 17.00 kick off was to be my intended third match of the day.