FAULDHOUSE UNITED (Park View)

EAST OF SCOTLAND CUP SEMI-FINAL, FAULDHOUSE UNITED 0-1 DUNDONALD BLUEBELL, ATTENDANCE: 250 (est)

For my final domestic game of season 2015/16 it was once again another trip to Scotland. When I was offered a lift north of the border it seemed like a good idea at the time! Despite being a Bank Holiday south of the border, in Scotland in was a normal working day so the game at Fauldhouse United kicked of at 7.15pm.

Fauldhouse is a town situated just of the M8, roughly halfway between Glasgow and Edinburgh. The local club Fauldhouse United were hosting Dundonald Bluebell in the East of Scotland cup.

The East of Scotland Cup, for sponsorship purposes is currently known as the DJ Laing East of Scotland Cup, is open to all East Region clubs. The competition dates back to 1896 and is one the regions premier cup competitions, with the Junior Cup, obviously, being THE cup competition.

Fauldhouse United play in the East Region Superleague but have been struggling near the bottom of the table. They will not be relegated directly but after this game tonight they have two games left, which they have to win, to avoid the relegation play off.

Dundonlad Bluebell play in the East Region Premier league and last Saturday they travelled to Dundee Violet where a 5-0 victory clinched a top two Premier League finish and a first ever promotion to the East Super League, so you could say there is nothing between the teams. So it proved.

The first half was a tight affair with neither side giving anything, with chances few and far between. The game opened up in the second half with both sides spurning decent chances.

As the game wore on it seemed Fauldhouse were going to run out victors as they put Bluebell under intense pressure. However, the visitors from Cardenden rode the storm and the home sides profligacy proved costly when, in the 93rd minute, Calum Young popped up with a winner to set up a clash with Bo'ness United in the final.

Park View is a tidy ground, surrounded by trees on three side, with an enclosure "the coo shed" on one side of the ground. There is a seated stand, fashioned from a lorry trailer, parked behind one goal. It looked splendid bathed in the evening sunshine. Despite arriving home just after 1am, it was a great way to round off the season at 'home'.

ARMADALE THISTLE (Volunteer Park)

SJFA EAST REGION PREMIER DIVISION, ARMADALE THISTLE 4-1 THORNTON HIBS, ATTENDANCE: 175 (h/c)

Today's choice of game was another trip north of the border for the winner takes all relegation clash at the stupendous Volunteer Park.

The home of Armadale Thistle is another ex-Scottish League ground as Armadale FC played in the league from 1921 until 1933, when they were expelled from the league due to financial problems.

Volunteer Park has hosted football since the late 19th century, when C Company of the Royal Scots Volunteer Battalion moved to Armadale and began training on a field on North Street. Armadale Stars asked permission to use the site as a football pitch, and were allowed to do so on the condition that they joined the Volunteers. The club was renamed Armadale Volunteers and Volunteer field subsequently became Volunteer Park. In 1889 Armadale FC took over the ground and played there until their disbandment in 1894.

In 1910 a new Armadale FC were formed, taking over at Volunteer Park. This was the club that were admitted to the Scottish League Division Two. Their first game on 20th August 1921 (a 3-0 win against St Bernard's) attracted a crowd of around 4,000, a club record for a league game. The last league game in November 1933 (a 2-0 defeat to Alloa) attracted a crowd of just 300. The club eventually folded in 1935.

Armadale Thistle then arose from ashes in 1936 and have been playing in Junior football ever since. The club currently play in the  East Region Premier League. Former England international Joe Baker started his career at Armadale Thistle before moving on to Hibernian, Torino and Arsenal, amongst others.

Volunteer Park is another fine example of the type of ground you only seem to see in Scottish Junior Football and is one of the reasons it is worth the lengthy journeys north. There is a covered enclosure, well almost if you allow for the dilapidated roof, and there is crumbling terraces on three sides of the ground. The ground oozes history but it's sad to say if this ground was south of the border the health and safety brigade would probably condemn the place.

Today's clash was a huge winner-takes-all game at the bottom of the East Premier League with both teams needing the three points to ensure survival. The Armadale Ultras were out in force and they literally banged the drum througout the game.

The game turned out to be a bit of damp squib as Armadale ran out comfortable, and deserved, winners. Thornton Hibs offered no resistance as the toll of three games in a week finally caught up with them.


Darren Downie put The Dale 1-0 up inside the opening 10 minutes and were the dominate side in the first half. Gary Brown and another effort from Downie put Armadale 3-0 up early in the second half before Daniel McNab pulled a goal back for Hibs and, given their exploits last week in coming from 4-1 down to grab a point at Bathgate, maybe a repeat could've been on the cards.

However it wasn't to be and a second yellow card for Hibs' Mcnab made it mission impossible and another Armadale goal from Dave Taylor wrapped up the victory, ensuring another season of Premier League football for Armadale, whilst confirming Hibs' relegation back to the North Division.

If you have not visited Volunteer Park to watch a game of fitba then I urge you to make a trip here a priority, you will not be disappointed!

Scottish Junior "Double Header"

With it being Scottish Final Saturday, many clubs/players wanted to see Rangers take on Hibernian at Hampden Park, so a fair few fixtures were moved, mostly to Friday night, but some to an earlier kick off time. This therefore presented the opportunity of a Scottish double header which, under normal circumstances, is a very rare thing...

12pm, SJFA West Central Division One
Robertson Park
Rossvale Juniors 1-1 Thorniewood United
Attendance: 68 (h/c)

Rossvale groundshare with Petershill but the 3G pitch at Petershill Park was booked for a youth cup final this morning so, when both teams wanted an early kick off in order to watch the festivities at Hampden Park, they mutually agreed to switch the game to Thorniewood's Robertson Park. The away team playing at home? This would make some groundhoppers splutter all over their notebooks!

There was nothing riding on today’s game, so it ended up being typical end of season fayre. Having said that, the opening exchanges were quite bright with both teams creating good chances. Rossvale took the lead after 20 minutes when a long punt from their goalkeeper was missed by everyone apart from Erald Krasniqi who latched onto the clearance to slot home. Thorniewood were level 3 minutes later when a fantastic defence splitting pass was collected by Chris Lennon who calmly passed the ball into the corner of the net.

The second half was a non-event, not helped by Thorniewood playing most of the half with 10 men after using all of their substitutes. They actually finished with 9 men when another player was stretchered off in stoppage time.

Robertson Park is hidden away behind the houses on Old Edinburgh Road and is fully enclosed. There is a terrace behind one goal and a stand on one side. We received a warm welcome from Thorniewood’s secretary and president, who came over for a chat, and we were all invited into the boardroom portacabin for a drink and nibbles at half time.

From Viewpark it was a 20 miles trip along the M8 to....

2.30pm, SJFA East Premier Division
Creamery Park
Bathgate Thistle 4-4 Thornton Hibs
Attendance: 91 (h/c)

We arrived at the ground about 10 minutes before kick off, allowing time to partake in a fabulous Scotch Pie (they were so good I had to try another at half time). Formed in 1937, Bathgate Thistle became a community club in 2013 when the town's youth and amateur sides all united under the Thistle name.

The ground is another fine example of a junior ground. The modern covered enclosure was opened in 2013 after the original structure was damaged beyond repair in winter storms in 2011. The rest of the ground is grass banked and made for ideal viewing in the afternoon sunshine, before a sudden rain shower sent many, including me, running for cover!

Former Dr Who David Tennant was born in Bathgate, but the timelord himself may struggle to understand how Thistle managed to grab a draw from from the jaws of victory. They were in complete control as they found themselves leading 4-1 midway through the second half, courtesy of goals from Stephen Easton (11) Jaconelli (34 & 50) and Hassan Nyang (68).

Thornton Hibs missed a penalty, when Chris Ireland's effort was saved, which would have made it 1-1 but a second half hat-trick from Jack Wilson, with a goal from Ireland sandwiched between, grabbed an unlikely point for Hibs. The draw keeps alive Hibs' bid to avoid an immediate return to the East Region North Division.

EDINBURGH CITY (Meadowbank Stadium)

SCOTTISH LEAGUE PYRAMID PLAY-OFF 1ST LEG, EDINBURGH CITY 1-1 EAST STIRLINGSHIRE, ATTENDANCE: 1,090

As the season draws to a close, it becomes more difficult to find games that actually matter but, for this particular groundhopper, there was one game in the UK today that stood out head and shoulders above any other - Edinburgh City v East Stirlingshire.

They were playing each other in the 1st Leg of what has been dubbed "the pyramid play off" for the right to play in League Two next season. Edinburgh City (champions of the Lowland League) beat Cove Rangers (champions of the Highland League) 4-1 on aggregate in the two-legged semi final to meet East Stirlingshire (who finished bottom of League Two) in the two-legged final. Edinburgh City lost to Brora Rangers in the semi-final stage of the inaugural play-off last year (for the record Montrose retained their league status by beating Brora in the final).

No pyramid system had existed in Scotland prior to The 2013 Scottish Football reforms, but the winners of the Lowland and the Highland league have a chance to progress to the League on merit, rather than on the old method of election. This would mean history for this incarnation Edinburgh City as they would play league football for the first time or it would bring an end to a run of 61 consecutive seasons of league football for The Shire.  

Another pressing reason for my trip north today is that the Meadowbank Stadium is soon to be demolished and replaced with a brand new sports centre. Plans were announced earlier this year to that the site is to be completely bulldozed and replaced with a new multi-million pound sports facility. Work is scheduled to commence in 2017.

The plans include a 3G football pitch and a 500 seater stand. All fine you think, but this would make the ground suitable for the Lowland League but not the Football League. This could leave Edinburgh City with a problem should they achieve promotion, as they will obviously need to find a new home for league football. Watch this space as they say.

The Meadowbank Stadium was built for the 1970 Commonwealth Games (they also hosted the 1986 games) and was home to Meadowbank Thistle from 1974 until they controversially relocated to Livingston in 1995. Edinburgh City moved in soon after.

Edinburgh City was first formed in 1928 and the club had ambitions to become the Edinburgh equivalent of the Glasgow club Queen's Park. They joined the Scottish Football League as an amateur club in 1931 but left in 1949. Edinburgh continued as a Junior club but eventually folded in 1955 when the local council refused to renew its lease on its then home ground, City Park.

A new club, Postal United, adopted the Edinburgh City name in 1986. The club have twice applied for election to the Scottish League, in 2002 and 2008, but were rejected on both occasions. The club were founder members of the Lowland League in 2013, and were champions in both 2015 and 2016.

The game could hardly be described as a classic, with so much at stake it was always going to be a tight affair. Edinburgh City had the better of the opening 45 minutes. They took the lead after 15 minutes when Douglas Gair smashed home a penalty (pictured right) after an unfortunate slip from Shires' Kristopher Faulds, handling the ball as he fell. There was also an effort from Ross Allum which was tipped onto the crossbar by Darren Dolan.

East Stirlingshire could consider themselves lucky to be only one goal down going into the closing moments of the half but, against the run of play, after 43 minutes, they were level. After a scramble in the box, Max Wright was on hand to fire the ball into the net (pictured below).

The Shire were much improved in the second half, and were at least threatening the Edinburgh goal, but in truth there were very few gilt edged chances for either side in the second period. Most of the goal threat, from both sides, came from dead ball situations.

Edinburgh's cause was not helped when Joe Mbu was sent off after 78 minutes for violent conduct and perhaps The Shire could have took advantage of their extra man but the game petered out to an inevitable draw.

East Stirling were also reduced to 10 men in stoppage time when Reece Donaldson kicked out, but the game is set up nicely for the second leg at Ochilview next Saturday.