Last of the Best: EOSL Third Division 2022-23

[HibeeJibee]

New boys Harthill join the bottom 9 in last season's Conference X to contest the inaugural EOSL Third Division with 2 or 3 promotion spots up for grabs.

Armadale and Bo'ness Athletic will be favourites to spar for the title - but the likes of Livingston Utd and West Calder among others will hope to break in. With clubs playing 4 times there will be plenty opportunity to make-up points defecits in the new year.

         

Armadale lodge with Bathgate until the end of September.


Opening fortnight:




















End of opening half of games:





New Year derbies:





Last day:

[HibeeJibee]

Edited July 13, 2022 by HibeeJibee

[TheLad]

I'm going for this group as my top 3

1) Bo'ness

2) Armadale

3) Stoneyburn

[Deanburn Dave]

Bo'ness Athletic 10 (ten)

Bathgate 0

That's a proper battering.

[AsimButtHitsASix]

Fucking hell. They've went from winning the Junior Cup to that in a little over a decade. 

[Pumphyman]

Division Three ft scores
Armadale Th 3-0 Fauldhouse Utd
Bo"ness Ath 10-0 Bathgate Th
Harthill Royal 2-3 Edinburgh College
Livingston Utd 1-1 West Calder United
Stoneyburn 3-3 Pumpherston

[Pumphyman]

17 hours ago, AsimButtHitsASix said:

Fucking hell. They've went from winning the Junior Cup to that in a little over a decade. 

Are you taking the p##s mate Boness Utd won the Scottish Cup not Athletic

[FairWeatherFan]

1 minute ago, Pumphyman said:

Are you taking the p##s mate Boness Utd won the Scottish Cup not Athletic

He's talking about Bathgate. 

[grinderbrokeyourhearts]

Are you taking the p##s mate Boness Utd won the Scottish Cup not Athletic

United last won the cup in the mid 80s. He means Bathgate.

[Spyro]

23 hours ago, AsimButtHitsASix said:

Fucking hell. They've went from buying the Junior Cup to that in a little over a decade. 

FTFY

[Pumphyman]

Pumpherston  0-4 Bo'ness  Athletic 

Two goals from Daramola Wallace and McVey secured all three points for the visitors.

[GNU_Linux]

[Jordi1977]

Bathgate got themselves up and running with a 3-0 win away to near neighbours Stoneyburn this evening. 

A deserved 3 points, but slightly flattered by the scoreline. The difference was one side took their chances while the other fluffed every chance they had!

A nice sunny evening to enjoy a bit of a feisty derby match, complete with an obligatory sending off near the end.

[Neilly]

I was at Harthill Royal v West Calder this evening. The standard is dire but for £6 it was well worth the money and a lovely evening for watching football.

Finished 3-1 West Calder and probably could have been a lot more, particularly in the first half, if it wasn't for some horrendous finishing from West Calder.

Tidy wee ground at Harthill and wouldn't mind going back there in the future for a game. 

[stulch]

Saturday, 13th August 2022

Third Division

2.30pm unless stated

Bathgate ( 8 ) v. Harthill Royal (10)
(3:00pm) Edinburgh College (3) v. Livingston Utd (4)
Fauldhouse (7) v. Stoneyburn (6)
Pumpherston (9) v. Armadale (1)
West Calder (5) v. Bo'ness Athletic (2)

[stulch]

The 3:00pm kick off is maybe match of the day according to the extremely early league positions, Edinburgh College (3rd) v. Livingston Utd (4th). Can Edinburgh College keep up their 100% record? Or can Livingston Utd continue their good start?

Bathgate (8th/3rd from bottom) v. Harthill Royal (10th/bottom). Can Bathgate get back to back wins after their terrible start?

[stulch]

Full-times

Bathgate 2-2 Harthill Royal
Edinburgh College 0-0 Livingston Utd
Fauldhouse 0-1 Stoneyburn
Pumpherston 1-3 Armadale
West Calder 0-3 Bo'ness Athletic

[Jordi1977]

Well thanks to that pesky Fringe Festival, my regular Tuesday night pub quiz was cancelled! So quick check of the fixture lists, a fairly speedy drive and got to Station Park in good time for the local deby between Livingston United and Pumpherston.

Not too much between the teams, but Livi definitely have more about them up front and as such ran out comfortable 4-1 winners.

A big town with a ground right in the middle of a large residential area, it was a little sad to only see a crowd of around 50 there... easily the lowest attended match I've seen yet this season. 

Maybe the early midweek kick off time (no floodlights, so 7pm), maybe the weather (although it stayed dry and was quite pleasant all game), but I'd think they should easily be able to get 100-200 in.

For those that do get along... really good steak pies to be had... and also some decent players on show at a team that does try to keep the ball down and play.

Pumpherston are a young and lively team. Plenty of the ball, but just didn't seem to be able to create many chances... indeed there goal was gifted to them by a goalkeeping howler just moments after I'd commented how well he'd played!

Enjoyable game and good luck to both teams as they go through the season. 

[stulch]

Saturday, 20th August 2022

Third Division

2.30pm

Bo'ness Athletic (3) v. Fauldhouse ( 8 )

Just the one game but you'd probably fancy Bo'ness Athletic to make it four out of four in the league and keep the division's only 100% record going.

[Jordi1977]

A little after work jolly this evening to Recreation Park for Pumpherston Juniors v West Calder United.

A comfortable 5-0 win for West Calder and the only negative for them would be what looked to be a pretty harsh sending off towards the end. Aside from that, they can be pretty happy with their performance. 

For Pumpherston, it doesn't take much to see why they are in the position they are with just an overall lack of accuracy!

The proverbial "2nd touch is a tackle" could have been said quite a lot tonight. When they did have the ball, a lot of overhit passes and a tendancy to give the ball away cheaply.

What looks a positive for them is they have a couple of players with serious pace and when they do actually find their man with passes they can sweep forward at pace and just a bit more accuracy on final balls, could see them at least giving opponents more to think about. 

Their attitude looks good too and while they were often slow to react to 2nd balls (which lost them a couple of goals) once they do react there is plenty of determination to get a challenge in. 

A good attitude and pace is a solid base to work to improvement.

West Calder were in general just sharper. While that doesn't sound much, it ended up being plenty for them to run out comfortable winners.

Quite a low attendance... maybe around 50-60 there. Certainly the lowest attended game I've been to this season, but when you look around at all these new houses built just behind the ground and the very shiny new primary school, you have to wonder if they are a lifeline to get Pumpherston back up the leagues?

If the club can engage with the new community moving in beside them and with the kids at the school they could have a bright future with a larger support and just the more comfortable levels of income that could bring them to sustain a competitive squad.