Marten

Quite a start to the season for Inverkeithing. Did they sign many new players?

No, they're in the East Region Premier League, so still in the 2nd tier of the east juniors.

And they are actually not as "shite" as they claim to be, not even close to the worst team in Britain. It's just that they are in a league which is above their level. I've watched both Fort William and Coupar Angus last season. If they'd play each other, FW would trounce Coupar Angus. CA are actually a better example of a club staying alive against all odds in for them very challenging times, all down to very hard working committee members for who I can have nothing but respect. Yet they don't get the attention.

Correct

Sleat and Strath 10-2 Portree, Skye and Lochalsh League Ground itself is next to a primary school, but the backdrop is wonderful. Big difference in standard between the teams. Sleat and Strath played very decent football.

Although I like the idea in principle, 128 teams will be too much for Scotland. There are 102 teams in the competition this year, so another 26 teams need to be added. If the West juniors enter the pyramid that probably won't take that long, but even then, Celtic v Golspie Sutherland and Rangers v Burntisland Shipyard could end up being absolutely massive scorelines, even if both Celtic & Rangers field their reserves.

Brora Rangers 6-0 Fort William Nice trip up north in decent weather once I gut further north. Brora were much stronger despite the ICT loanees at Fort William. Good ground.

Finished 6-0 Brora. Clearly a case of men against boys. Brora were much stronger and ruthless in finishing. There was never any doubt who would win this game. Having said that, Fort William looked much stronger compared to when I watched them last season. Starting away at the league favourites is the last thing you want with a team that for large part just arrived at the club a few days ago. Once they gel a bit, I'd expect them to start picking up a few points against teams lower in the division.

Just done a headcount at Brora Rangers v Fort William, 250.

Not followed the news on here much in the last few days as I've been away for quite a bit. Ironically I'm now reading this in the Brora Rangers social club just before watching the game.

That also means they won't be eligible for a license as for £ 300k I'm sure these toilet blocks aren't gold-plated...

Blairgowrie 3-1 St. Johnstone XI Good crowd (around 150), good weather and a decent result for Blairgowrie against a young Saints side.

Another one on the same game, this link was already posted in "random matches you are going to", but according to the BBC the game finished 3-2 to County. I was at McDiarmid Park and I definitely didn't see more than 3 goals!

The NCL are interested in joining the pyramid. The North Juniors aren't though and that's stopping the NCL from joining.

I hope the west comes into the pyramid as a bloc, but what will it cause it to lose its "magic"? You'll still play the same clubs in the same league, the only differences will be that you can get licensed and guarantee yourselves Scottish Cup access and the champions can get promoted. The latter won't be a "worry" to 90% of the clubs at first anyway... Talbot are right to get prepared. Even though I disagree with their stance on the pyramid, they are realistic enough to not want to be left behind. Look what happened in the east to the clubs that didn't move, Talbot understandably don't want a situation like that in the west.

Definitely finished 2-1 County, so another case of BBC being inaccurate on Scottish football...

Today I went to Perth for St. Johnstone 1-2 Ross County

I've been there. It was very obvious who were the better side. After Cambuslang scored the 1-4 in the 50th minute or so, they substituted 7 players, otherwise they would have won with a far greater margin. Obviously difficult to say anything useful based on a game like this, but Cambuslang looked strong.

Dundee Violet 1-5 Cambuslang Rangers

Excellent shirt, I really like that one.

To be fair, the only teams that could be argued being in a "false position" are teams that might in normal circumstances now have been in the EOS Premier or are in there but normally wouldn't be there. And that could only be said for a handful of teams who just did or didn't make the cut in the transitional season. LTHV could be one of those examples, who everybody expected to make the Premier but missed out due to a poor start to the season. Dundonald are definitely in the place they should be. I don't think they'll be challenging for the title, but they'll be a decent side in the division.

Lochee v LTHV (assuming both win their PR1 games, which seems quite likely to me) could be a great game. I'll also go to that one.

Dundee North End 7-2 Blairgowrie today

From what I've seen of them last season they've improved compared to their last season in the juniors. Having watched both Talbot and Dundonald in the second half of last season, I'd say Talbot are the favourites but it could be a decent game.

Apparently Valencia, who got knocked out in the group stage, got roughly the same prize money as Ajax, who were seconds away from a place in the final...