It was a journey North of the Border today as I made my way to the Forth Valley for the semi-final first leg of the Scottish Junior Cup.
Camelon Juniors FC are based in Camelon, a district of Falkirk (about 2 miles west of Falkirk itself) and play in the East Region Super League.
Camelon, Junior Cup winners in 1995, were taking on Glenafton Athletic for the right to play either Hurlford United or Irvine Meadow in the final in May. This is a competition that is taken very seriously in these parts and are usually blood and thunder affairs that tend to attract decent crowds. Today was no exception.
There were over 1,000 fans present and Glenafton brought a fair few up to the game. It was the Glens fans who made most of the noise and provided the spectacle of regular pyro displays before and during the game!
The match itself was an absorbing encounter with both teams playing some good football, especially given the conditions were awful with a strong wind blowing from one end of the pitch to the other and persistent heavy rain throughout the 90 minutes.
The visitors from Ayrshire started the strongest and took the lead after 4 minutes when Cameron Marlow burst through the home defence, rounded the 'keeper and fired the ball home from a very acute angle.
Camelon worked their way back into the game and were level after 26 minutes when a corner kick into the box fell to the feet of Colin Leiper who prodded the ball home from a few yards out.
After an even opening 45 minutes, Camelon, with the wind at their backs, had the better of the second half exchanges. They eventually scored their second goal after 77 minutes when Craig Menzies headed the ball into his own net. In the celebrations that followed Camelon's Andy McGown was shown a straight card for gesturing to the travelling Glenafton fans.
Overall though there was nothing between the teams and the game is set up nicely for next Sunday's second leg in New Cumnock. I'll be honest, I can't predict the eventual winner......
Glenafton Athletic won the second leg 2-0 and will now face Hurlford United in an all-Ayrshire final
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