HibeeJibee

Venue remains unconfirmed for this midweek's tie AFAICS. Scurrilous rumours on FN claim Forres, Huntly, Lossiemouth and/or Turriff were asked to host but declined.

Weirdly it'd actually require special permission, and approval of other SPFL clubs: Covered Stadia H2 No League Match or Play-Off Match shall take place at any stadium where the playing area is permanently covered or partially covered by a fixed or moveable roof without the prior written approval of the Board after consultation with the Clubs.

What are the other options, though? Easter Road, Tynecastle and presumably the Edinburgh Rugby ground are surely non-starters. Ainslie Park and Meggetland are fully subscribed. Marine Drive and Saughton aren't suitable. As discussed previously that leaves you with Edinburgh University at New East Peffermill (surely requiring investment for your needs given it only has 100 seats - there was planning permission to double that to 200): or Watsonians rugby at Myreside (which is quite heavily subscribed as they've a Super 6 side): because Edinburgh Academical, Heriots and Stewarts Melville don't have floodlights.

TNS winning would be a new low. Remember too SPFL have bowed to Brian Graham - and moved the Womens League Cup Final back to Sunday 24th... will this mean the Challenge Cup Final being on the Saturday lunchtime or evening? Saturday further increases likelihood of Livingston or Kilmarnock (or Raith?) - everybody else have their own games that day.

Newtongrange have still to play Camelon, Dunipace twice, St Andrews and Whitburn: so very much in own hands to stop lead being eroded. Dunipace as noted have just to play Newtongrange.

Justin McNulty: SDLP suspend MLA who left Stormont for GAA game - BBC News A nationalist SDLP assembly member has been suspended from the party after quitting Stormont early "without permission" to manage a Gaelic football team - on the day politicians returned after an absence of two years. Justin McNulty attended the first sitting of the NI Assembly on Saturday but left before proceedings ended. It later emerged he had driven to County Wexford where his team, Laois, were playing a match. Mr McNulty was appointed Laois manager last October. He was on the sideline when his team took on Wexford in Division Four of the National League at 18:00 local time - Laois won by 10 points. However, he missed his party colleague Mathew O'Toole being nominated as leader of the official opposition. The SDLP confirmed in a statement that the party has now suspended the whip from the Newry and Armagh assembly member (MLA), who won an All-Ireland title with Armagh in 2002. A spokesman said Mr McNulty left today's sitting of the assembly without "seeking permission" and did not return for "important parliamentary" business which included the SDLP taking up its role as official opposition at Stormont.

Tuesday 30th January (R4) St Andrews 0-2 Kennoway Saturday 3rd February Cowdenbeath 0-6 East Kilbride Johnstone Burgh 1-2 Threave Rovers Kennoway Star Hearts P-P Ashfield Kilwinning Rangers 3-2 Shotts Bon Accord Kirkintilloch Rob Roy 4-1 Pollok Rutherglen Glencairn 0-0 Cumbernauld Colts (aet, 3-4p) Tranent 4-1 Broxburn Athletic Troon 3-0 Caledonian Braves Tranent outclassed Broxburn on an initially blustery afternoon before several hundred at Foresters. They led 2-0 at break courtesy a stroked home effort and penalty... then added 2 more with a tap-in and header both from left wing crosses. Athletic got their consolation from a neat curving header. Kennoway - whose tie v Ashfield was off, after burst pipes flooded the dressing rooms - are last EOSL side standing in what's turned-out a disappointing campaign.

Saturday 3rd February (R3) Dundonald 3-1 Haddington (R3) Musselburgh 6-0 Harthill Saturday 10th February (R5) Dunipace v St Andrews Wednesday 14th February (R4) Uni of Stirling v Musselburgh Tuesday 20th February (R4) Dundonald v Dunbar Tuesday 27th February (R5) Dundonald/Dunbar v Uni of Stirling/Musselburgh (R5) Gala v Inverkeithing (R5) Tranent v Broxburn

Saturday 3rd February (R1) Burntisland 3-1 Edinburgh Utd (R1) Lochore 1-0 Edinburgh Community (R1) Oakley 4-1 Hawick St Andrews 4-2 Edinburgh South Saturday 10th February (R1) Harthill v Thornton Arniston v Preston Blackburn v Lochore Burntisland v Stoneyburn Kirkcaldy & Dysart v Bo'ness Athletic Ormiston v Vale of Leithen Newtongrange v Coldstream Pumpherston v Newburgh West Calder v Oakley

Tuesday 30th January (SF) Kelty Hearts 1-4 University of Stirling Kelty fielded near enough their first XI, controlled most of opening half, and led... but the students levelled shortly before break, then hit 3 in quick succession around the hour mark to stun the Fifers from 2 tiers above. Crowd be 150-200. Edinburgh City & University of Stirling meet in the showpiece.

Ferguson shipyard issues new ferry delay warning - BBC News The delivery date for a CalMac ferry being built at the Ferguson Marine shipyard is set to slip again as the yard faces new supplier problems. Delays in obtaining specialist pipework mean the LNG gas system on the dual-fuel Glen Sannox cannot be fully commissioned until late May. CalMac will then conduct weeks of sea trials before the ship enters service. The yard has now put back the launch of a second ferry MV Glen Rosa by four weeks to focus on Glen Sannox. Both ferries being built at Port Glasgow were originally due for delivery in 2018 but have been beset by repeated design and construction problems. The yard had hoped to deliver Glen Sannox by the end of March but Ferguson Marine chief executive David Tydeman said that late May was now the planned date and warned of possible further delays and cost overruns. "We are evaluating the risks to further slippage on the planned late May handover date for Glen Sannox, the cascade impacts onto Hull 802 and the overall costs to complete impacts for both ships," he wrote. Ardossan's Irish berth permanently shut due to safety concerns - BBC News Ardrossan harbour's Irish berth is to permanently close due to safety concerns. The berth has been used by CalMac since May as it is the only dock that can be used by the catamaran MV Alfred, which was chartered for the Arran crossing. The ferry has been operating a freight service from Troon since Tuesday, while inspections on the berth took place. A second ferry - the MV Isle of Arran - continues to operate a single vessel service from Ardrossan to Brodick. The closure comes due to wear and tear caused by increased use of the berth. MV Alfred services on the route were paused in mid-January to allow for dive inspections on the berth to take place. The inspections found that extended and regular use has caused accelerated wear and tear to its structure, making it unsafe. The MV Alfred is owned by Pentland Ferries. It joined the CalMac fleet on loan to help service the Arran-Ardrossan route while the regular ferry MV Caledonian Isles undergoes engine repairs.

Man who abducted girl while dressed as woman fails in bid to cut sentence - BBC News A man who abducted a primary school girl while dressed as a woman has had a bid to cut his sentence refused. Andrew Miller was jailed last year for 20 years after subjecting the girl to a series of sexual assaults. Lawyers for Miller, 54, also known as Amy George, claimed that sentence was "excessive" and put "too much weight" on his identity. Appeal judges considered those claims and his early guilty plea but concluded his jail term should not be reduced. Miller was sentenced in October for the offences committed in the Scottish Borders in February 2023. He admitted charges of abduction, sexual assault, watching pornography in the presence of the child under the age of 13, and possessing 242 indecent images of children. He was given an extended sentence comprising 20 years in jail and a further eight on licence under supervision in the community. Advocate Victoria Dow, representing Miller, argued that too much importance had been given to his dressing as a woman at the time of the abduction. She said he had a "trans" identity and had lived and presented as a woman for "many years". Lord Arthurson said the crime was "frankly nauseating in its level of depravity and criminal deviance" and the abduction had been "brazen and chilling". In a written judgement, Lord Carloway concluded that the sentence issued had been appropriate.

Brora lost in Scottish Cup aet. Buckie won in Aberdeenshire Cup (reversed to BoD) on pens. On paper both now 21 games to play in 21 dates. Aberdeenshire Cup R2 pits lightless Deveronvale v pitchless Buckie.

Interestingly their return after a year saved the Challenge Cup... it had only ever been the B&Q Cup, and didn't run at all in 1998-99 as B&Q withdrew, but returned in glory as the Bells Cup for 1999-00. EDIT: returning to the point in hand that season's SFL Review confirms there was no league sponsor. It was presumably due to SPL starting... Bells had been sponsoring all 4 levels including the Premier Division, but with it breaking away and signing-up Bank of Scotland the remaining SFL was a far different proposition. I'd assume they returned a year later (adding the Challenge Cup) for a much reduced fee. It was a season of flux for every competition: there was also no League Cup sponsor, with 4yrs of Coca Cola having ended and 12yrs of CIS Insurance beginning the next campaign.

Meanwhile...

Majority of Scottish projects are Strathclyde, but well done to these EOS clubs who've received facility grants under UK Government's direct funding: Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme projects: 2023 to 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) Grassroots facilities across Scotland to benefit from £6 million of funding | Football Development | News (scottishfa.co.uk) Blackburn United £9,000 towards £15,000 artificial pitch repairs Dunipace £539,000 towards £719,000 pavilion replacement Haddington Athletic £13,000 towards £26,000 floodlights upgrade Hill of Beath Hawthorn £4,000 towards £7,000 grass pitch improvements Newtongrange Star £25,000 towards £50,000 solar panels Indoor pitch of some kind also going up in Grangemouth.

Only been 4 civilian nuclear-powered ships: Nuclear marine propulsion - Wikipedia Mutsu, Japan (1970–1992; never carried commercial cargo, rebuilt as diesel engine powered RV Mirai in 1996) Otto Hahn, Germany (1968–1979; re-powered with diesel engine in 1979) NS Savannah, United States (1962–1972) Sevmorput, Russia (1988–present) 1 in service (Russian) + 1 building (Chinese).

Noticed a poll currently running on FitbaNorth where 60% of fans are against having artificial turf in HL.

Surprised it hasn't been covered more widely (all I see is an article by Alan Patullo in The Scotsman) but tomorrow is 50th anniversary of senior Sunday football in Scotland. Against background of Yom Kippur War and an oil shock the miners began an overtime ban in autumn 1973 - the government declared a state of emergency in mid-November (plus soon after banned floodlit sport btw). After the pitmen went on complete strike a Three Day Week began on 1st January 1974... with half the areas of the country working Thursday-Saturday... and a week after England, clubs in Scotland started moving games to Sunday from 27th January, beginning with Scottish Cup R3 ties. Dixie Deans scored Scotland's inaugural first class Sunday goal - at Parkhead for Celtic v Clydebank. Sunday games here ceased after 16th March with the end of the emergency. Interestingly thereafter we had surprisingly few Sunday games (and none of high profile) for many years... however from 1984 the League Cup Final was played on a Sunday - then from 1990s televised matches in top flight became progressively frequent, as well as occasional internationals. Ironically there aren't any SPFL games tomorrow.

Hawick's early promise has gone off the boil a bit as shown today as Bathgate continue to pull clear. West Calder have come streaking up - while Pumpherston and Stoneyburn sniffing Harthill.

Tight wins by Armadale, Dalkeith and Edinburgh South up top... while Bo'ness Athletic devastated Newburgh. Edinburgh College keep on falling plus Burntisland and Coldstream enter top half.

Dunipace swatting aside St Andrews the day's interesting result... other members of top 5 all won; everybody in bottom 5 lost; those 6 between will be glad of points, helping keep heads above 14th.