Lower Leagues Hike

[Pacman1903]

Tayport 0 v 2 Lochee United

Part of my winners of the Junior Scottish Cup in my life quest. Tayport winning it in 1996/2003/2005

Best team won easily. Lochee keep the ball really well and are defensively solid as f@ck which is alot to do with Gary Kenneth who for being a fat c@nt is immense at this level. But he should be. Hes younger than me and was a pro not so long ago.

Nae a bad game. Thought as this used to be a big game but has been missing for a few years after Tayports relegation it might have been fiesty. It threatened after Lochees second but Tayport seemed to realise that Kenneth going off injured has seriously weakened Lochee. So they got the ball down and played and tried to get something out of it rather than boot lumps.

Pac Jnr definatley prefers the lesser games. Fine by me



Massive

3 down 15 to go with Whitburn coming next week

[deaconred]

Went up to Grantown for Strathspey Forres League Cup match. Forres the better team went a goal down before equalising in 25. Dodgy last-man tackle saw a red card for Strathy and a peach of a free kick to put Cans up.

Down a goal, down to 10 men. Game over.

Strathspey equalised!

Second half Forres dominated and eventurally scored three late goals.

Good game. Good day.

[Pacman1903]

Whitburn 4-1 Kennoway Star Hearts

Ground four of the Junior Cup winners in my life quest. Never thought id do an East of Scotland Superleague games on two consecutive Saturdays. Just done it. Whitburn, Scottish cup winners in 2000 leading me here today. Was very close to heading to Motherwell but for two reasons i didnt as 1-Jnrs nae good with big shouty crowds (im sure there was plenty of that today) and 2-i needed to be back up the road sharp so early KO suited me.

Nae much of a game but i was treated to two f@cking class goals. Whitburn took the lead through one of them, a weak worm burner clearance from the Kennoway defender rolled to the Whitburn boy who placed this unstoppable curler right into the top corner. Wasnt even hit hard. Just with amazing precision from about 35 yards. Great finish. This actually got Kennoway into the game a bit as they put up a fight and got themselves back in it and on to level terms. At HT i noticed the pitch was cutting up to f@ck. Actually made the game a bit scrappier and dirty because alot of second touches were tackled with a few being missed timed. Whitburn went up 2-1 shortly after the restart. Then cracking hit number two came to make it 3-1. KSH defender clears with good length, Burnie boy tries his luck first time from just over the half way line and suceeds in nestling the ball in the back of the net and tangling the stranded keeper in the net. Some hit. Boy next to me said lucky, he deliberatley tried his luck fae fifty yards. Where was the luck. He set out to do it and suceeded. Missed the fourth as i was away for a slash.

Decemt enough. Never been to Whitburn, dont see any reason why id ever be back. They do have a decent social club if you ever find yourself there

To be noted. The East Region revolt in the summer (Linlithgow, Bo'ness, Bonnyrigg, Hill of Beath etc etc leaving) has weakened that league big time. I saw Lochee United (top of the league) last week who were very very good and one of the best junior teams ive seen. Whitburn were 5th going into that today and moved into 4th. They were promoted into the league due to the mass exodus. The gulf between the two is f@cking massive. Lochee should piss that league.As for Kennoway, they are actually one of the few remaining teams in the Superleague from last season and are pretty garbage.

14 to go

[Pacman1903]

Dufftown 4-2 East End

Due to an early morning return to Meldrum after a long drive from Manchester i thought a localish game was needed. Webster Park in Dufftown it was. (Once graced by Nicky Walker)

On arrival in the Morayshire toon i fancied a pint in the Seven Stills pre match but unfortunatley it looks like its shut down. So the Commercial it was. A friendly wee place if you end up in Dufftown.

Played there a few times in the past but its a changed place and been done up to what can only be described as tidy for Northern Juniors standards. One of the best id say. With a neat enough stand and Pavillion etc. Its also in a great setting of hills and farmland on the edge of town. So rural i was treated to a first in all my however many games ive been too. Gunshots and lots of them. Must have been a farmer killing rabbits or something. But it added to the character of the place.

The game was decent too. East End went up one nil early doors as i was taking a leak so nae sure what happened. From there it was quite end to end for the rest of the half but no keeper worked. It was a really quick game. Bith teams seemed to have a few whippets in their ranks. Then in added time of the first half the Dufftown striker was wiped oot in a spectacularly crazy fashion meaning the resulting pen made it 1-1.

Second half Dufftown were far better and took a 2-1 lead through a long ranger perfectly placed in the bottom corner. They quickly follwed up with a cracking team goal ending withba cracking ba in from the right(the Dufftown RM had a great cross and set piece on him throughout) right on the CFs napper. Cracking goal. This seemed to trigger a loss of discipline from both teams. Which the ref didnt need as he was poor throughout with alot of simple decisions being wrong. This led to East End getting back in the game as Dufftown lost their shape. A decent accurate finish into the bottom corner from 18 yard. But Dufftown put it to bed with ten mins to go with another decent long range effort. Good day out in cracking weather for January (especially in Dufftown). Well worth the fiver and 45 min drive



Great weather and a bonnie view

[Pacman1903]

Albion Rovers 0-2 Peterhead

Another for the old romantic. Cliftonhill is a classic old school relic. I thought i better nail it before its a Lowland League ground which is looking likely. 7 points this season so far. Closest team to them has 14. Playoff bound

Day started well as Pac Jnr was an over the turnstile job then the stadium announcer saw me and the wee man heading for a coffee. He shouted us over and said "he must be the youngest here". Got his name and said over the tannoy "a big Rovers welcome to 4 year old Pac Jnr whos travelled from Oldmeldrum with his dad, surely the youngest and furthest travelled child fan here and hes a neutral too". He got a clap. Then the annoucer followed up with "welcome to Coatbridge.i hope you have locked your car"

First half Albion were the better team. And by some distance. Peterhead were devoid of any creativity. Rory McAllister and Derek Lyle were anonymous and the Albion keeper did nothing. Albion had the better chances but spurned the lot. McAllister also went off injured after half an hour. I thought it could be more dropped points after a being beat by Clyde last week.

2nd half the Blue Toon were alot better and became established in the game. They took a deserved lead through very good refereeing. An up and under led to a striker v keeper aerial challenge that nine times out of ten would be keeper being over protected. But he let the strikers challenge stand and ex pikey Ryan Dow headed the knock down into an empty net. Then Peterhead looked like the team chasing promotion. They went on to grab a second via a decent placed finish into the bottom corner from their lurch/Cosgrove striker. Fair rwsult id say in the end. Cliftonville is quality. Be a shame to lose it to the Lowland league and maybe forever(East Stirling Struggling to put up mich of a challenge down there)

I have to give credit to two things. Firstly the Albion fans. Not once did they get on their teams back. Not once. They backed them untill FT. This is a team hurtling towards relegation from the league set up. Very good fans

Then as mentioned on the ex Dons thread.Stuart Hogg the fitness coach who used to grace Pittodries turf pre match many moons ago putting Deano and Dodd etc througj their paces. 78 he is reported to be and still doing what he clearly loves(Peterhead he works for) . Hats off to you Stuarty min.

Good day out and what was actually a really enjoyable game

[nice1simmy]

Good report from the game and pac jr looks like he had a good day out

[Pacman1903]

Good report from the game and pac jr looks like he had a good day out

Hes loving fitba more and more. I really cant complain

[afc1903mad]

Im nae having it.
You’re never 6’3”, either that or pac junior is 5’10”

[Pacman1903]

Im nae having it.
You’re never 6’3”, either that or pac junior is 5’10”

He is a big loon. Maybe he is

[Aldo1983]

Albion Rovers get grief, even on here but they aren't Celtic fans without a bus fare. Can't be easy supporting them in a hot bed of tims like Coatbridge.