The Mantis

WOSL Conference B. Robertson Park. Thorniewood 1 Ashfield 0. Thorniewood wrap up their league fixtures with an early strike from captain Adam Watt which seemed to beat 'keeper Calder at his near post. A good open game of many chances.

Meggetland Stadium last night. Only 20 mins in the car and a nice night so better than a night in the hoose wi the wife. EOS Premier. Tynecastle 1 Hill Of Beath Hawthorn 6. I think you can usually get a pint here but the terrace behind the goals was full of rugby types, I think maybe it was a wedding. Crowd 107 apparently, after the rugby types went inside for their jolly.

May as well chip in a few pics even if I'm slow off the mark. I was there about 5 past 7 so no queues at the gate. Thought parking might be a problem as my regular spot in Tranent has now got yellow lines, and also not sure what the Asda allows. But got parked in the main street no bother at 5 to 7.

Visits to Lewis are pretty routine for me - already been twice this year. But here's a couple of shots taken from the ferry on the way back. Just a routine exercise afaik.

Yours was too subtle for me

Eek, surely not! He was still a male when I saw him playing for Brora the other week

Another one who was at Bonnyrigg. Went for a pee and was lucky to catch the 3rd goal as I came back. Also got to walk past the Brochers who, in contrast to the politely applauding Rose fans, were well lubricated and howling constant, incomprehensible drivel at the ref

No many Sumos on show below... the Broch fans were well bleezin wi the drink so nothing they say bears any resemblance to the truth. McGachie that scored the first goal? Right hand side in the photo. Pah! Bobby Mann was fatter than that in his prime.

I was there and we murdered them that day. Shilton had about half a dozen stops. Bit puzzled by the sunshine though, just watched the highlights as I remember it being a damp drizzly day.

Allocation being sent to Broch in time to be sold from Thursday at Bellslea, face value apparently (£10) https://twitter.com/BonnyriggRose/status/1515816561004756995?s=20&t=foJBz8CmjT8L04ickmJVAg

£13 is online price including postage. £10 option to collect at NDP ended at noon today.

If you're at Kneep, it's a shame your (my) "local" team Carloway aren't at home. Same with Utd and Aths who groundshare at Goathill. Ness, Back and Point are all decent, and Point have a good social club. Ness have too but I've never been in it. West Side is a bit more basic. I'll be back up there 5th August for a week. Bear in mind that Ness will take you about 1 1/4 hours to drive. Just in case you haven't seen this: https://scottishfootballgroundswordpresscom.wordpress.com/2016/05/19/football-in-lewis-and-harris/

Lewis & Harris League (Moldova Lewis Cup), Monday night at Garrabost. Point FC 3-2 Carloway FC. Point score almost from the kickoff and are expected to hammer unfancied Carloway (who lost 9-1 to Ness last time I saw them). However Carloway equalise on 20 mins and take a surprise lead after 50. Carloway look quite comfortable and have a late chance for 3-1, but disaster strikes as Point equalise on 88 minutes and everybody wonders how the extra time will work in the dark. Then Point get a contentious penalty in 96 mins. The keeper saves it but the rebound is knocked home for the winner.

Any sign of the playoff dates? Edit - found it, 23rd and 30th. David Stoker is a saint.

Sybil Fawlty. Specialist subject "The Bleedin' Obvious".

Jeezo, just had a gander at the FB page. What a state.

Was the issue not about leaving the gate open? I’ve been there once or twice over the years and just been able to walk in. TBH I’ve never really thought about whether you can get in any other way. Last time, the committee guy drove off and left me to it (mid afternoon) although maybe they would be locking up later.

I wish these dates were reversed as I’m not going to miss Bonnyrigg v Broch/Buckie on the 23rd and I’ve never been to Spain Park, which I’ll presumably have to visit next season to re-complete the HL. Haven’t been at Claggan Park since 1994 with Caley. It’s true what they say about the pitch being in good nick, I was up that way in November and I was speaking to a committee guy who invited me to have a walk over it.

Absolutely. I don’t think that anybody at the club seriously believed they had a long term future at tier 5 when the LL was set up in 2013 but you would expect them to be a good fit for the EOS Prem , based on the players that have gone back and forth between WW and the Juniors over the years, plus their record in friendlies. The shape they’re in just now though, it’s a long way back for them.

I would say that WW is a poor example. More to do with the rapid decline of the club than a statement on the standard of the league. They went into the LL as EOS champions and for the first 4 seasons they gathered around 40 points and were capable of competing with the likes of Edinburgh City, Spartans and East Kilbride, while not disgracing themselves in the Scottish. In 14-15 they were fielding a strike force of Wayne McIntosh and Aaron Somerville, who was the league’s top scorer. For various reasons they dropped to 12th in the 5th season although they gained 34 points, but the bottom fell out the following year when they gathered only 12 points and were relegated due to Selkirk folding. Their demise has coincided with the impressive rise of the Rose 2 miles down the road, who are now a magnificent example of how a club should be run, and the magnet for any sponsorship in Midlothian, yet they themselves were close to folding a few years back. WW’s decline has been compounded by the recent passing away of two long term stalwarts of the club, and the retirement of another who was a long term administrator. Whitehill for many years were the senior club in Midlothian, and Newtongrange Star the top Junior club, yet I’ve not seen anybody draw conclusions from the fact that they’re also heading for tier 7.

Went to Turriff 1 Brora 7 on Saturday. Had never been to Turriff as they were one of the HL newcomers so that's the HL complete for me although I'll probably have Banks o'Dee to visit next season. Hat trick for Andy Macrae who was on ICT's books as a youngster. ICT Cup winner and Legend Josh Meekings shown below. Bizarre things you've seen at the fitba part 27: Couldn't get into the social club as there was some kind of private women's do on. At 3 o'clock they all poured out into the upper stand behind the goals and started yapping away loudly as they had all had a decent drink. First photo below...

No orange ba', it was just a heavy shower. Started at KO and went for about 20 mins during which I got some shite pics trying to capture the blizzard. The second one here is after about half an hour and the last one is just before Whitburn scored where you can see the clear skies.

Aye Andy especially since Penicuik got the gas lamps put in…

Funny game fitba. A couple of weeks ago I saw Edinburgh Utd go to Whitburn in the League Cup section and pull off a surprise 3-2 win. On Saturday I saw Ed Utd at home to Penicuik where they put up a good first half show but eventually were overpowered 5-1. These pics are from last night at Penicuik Park where Whitburn came away with a convincing 3-1 win with Penicuik only getting a late consolation. The first pic is right at kick-off.

You don’t need to spend much in the bar at Rothes as you can get pished just breathing the fumes off all the distilleries.