Andy groundhopper Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 A stormy night at Stepford for Easterhouse 3 Saltcoats 2 att prob 50ish. With the gale with them the hosts raced into a 3 goal lead, the visitors struggling to escape their own half. A half time grilling must have done the trick as Salts got back in 31, 32, and almost grabbed a point right at the death. Fair game in the conditions, more noise coming from the Development game behind ! 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Groundhopping Adventures Posted March 23 Share Posted March 23 Glasgow University 3-0 Wishaw Through necessity out West today. The original plan had been Bonnyton but dire warnings in the weather forecast meant we ended up at Airdrie for the only University side in the West pyramid with three in the East. Can't say I was that thrilled with the situation but at least Airdrie weren't playing. Heard chanting and a drum on entry and given it was homophobia and misogyny rather than Latin and ancient Greek this was definitely the Wishaw Ultras. Wee nyaffs maybe but they sang all game despite their team being hopeless. Two early goals win the game for the Uni and that is that apart from two red cards for the guests as their discipline went. A lovely volley just on full time rounds off the scoring Tried to persuade the crowd to have a chorus of Gaudeamus Igitur but alas no luck. Wishaw will be relegated. They are hopeless. Especially seeing how well near neighbours Bellshill are doing, on and off the park, it will hurt. Ticks off Broomfield and its rather staunch scoreboard. A welcome return to the East next week. 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig fae the Vale Posted March 23 Share Posted March 23 Renfrew 0-0 Neilston Game totally spoiled by the wind. Very few chances either way. 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Molotov Posted March 23 Share Posted March 23 13 minutes ago, Craig fae the Vale said: Renfrew 0-0 Neilston Game totally spoiled by the wind. Lentil curry last night Craig? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy groundhopper Posted March 23 Share Posted March 23 Glasgow Utd (daft name and a shame the club was closed) v Lesmahagow 23. Game end to end, the hosts seemed ok when they restored lead for 21 but the Gow hit back with two quick goals 2nd half - and looked more of a threat suddenly.Glasgow had half chances to level, really enjoyable in a lovely old ground - in front of a decent crowd. 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Ivo den Bieman Posted March 23 Popular Post Share Posted March 23 (edited) I've been working in Montenegro for a few days. So today, I took in OFK Titograd v FK Drezga, a famous old name fallen on hard times versus village diddy team. It's international week so the big clubs here- Budućnost, Sutjeska Nikšić & co- all have the weekend off. Titograd play at the "Stari aerodrom" or Old Airfield stadium. There is a bigger grass pitch next door- it's part of a complex hosting the HQ of the Montenegrin FA and a training field for FK Budućnost, one of the two biggest teams in the country. Until recently Titograd were in the same league as Budućnost, but a calamitous double relegation around the time of Covid now sees them having to re-animate themselves in what is basically an amateur league- the third-tier Montenegrin Second League (Central). OFK Stands for Omladinski Fudbal Klub or youth football club, and Titograd have long been famous for bringing through good young players who go onto play for bigger teams. "Titograd" is how Podgorica was known during Yugoslav times, depsite Marshal Tito having no actual connection to the city. The game was played in a 3G cage with the only seating (letting the few spectators avoid having to watch the game through a chicken wire fence) a strange scaffolding poles and boards structure with about 20 seats in it. It's certainly one of the more bizarre and unusual structures I've watched a game from. The game kicked off at 10.40 this morning- early for Montenegro- and at peak the crowd stretched to about twenty, basically the Titograd chairman and a few cronies as far as I could make out. Needless to say it was free to get in- whoever could be arsed making the effort was welcome. The game itself was decent. The Titograd players all seem to be 18-23 and are very comfortable on the ball. Drezga meanwhile had some towering ogres at the back and up front- their no. 6 was huge but about as mobile as dump truck, however he held the ball up well. They came to frustrate the home team and did that job very well for almost the entire first half. Indeed they should have been in front but their no. 6 effected a miserable sclaff from a brilliant position, with the goalkeeper toiling. The stand out players for the home team were the wee Japanese central midfielder, Takuto Hamazaki, and the no. 10, Matija Gardašević. Takuto is tiny- about 5' 3"- but can stand up for himself physically and can see a pass really well. There are quite a few Japanese players in Montenegro- there is a link through FK "Adria" who offer an opportunity for young guys from Japan to come and play in a European league. Unfortunately Adria seem to be "in abeyance" presently and the Japanese players are scattered around other clubs at this level. A lot of Titograd's opportunities came through Takuto's promptings from the middle of the park. Gradašević finally opened the scoring a few minutes before half time after the visitors uncharacteristically over-committed themselves going forward- a neat breakaway pass saw him roll the ball under the keeper from about 14 yards out. There was a suspicion of offside and one of the Drezga defenders was a seething mess that it wasn't given, but 1-0 at half time. Drezga gave as good as they got and should have equalised from a corner about ten minutes into the second half. The Titograd defence fell asleep and a header from six yards flashed just the wrong side of the post. It may have made for a better game had that gone in and if there were any Drezga fans there- there weren't- they'd have felt they deserved something from the game for their effort overall. As it was Titograd wrapped things up with a close range finish from about nine yards after great work down the right from winger Luka Lakušić, who beat two or three players and centred the ball for the substitute Kljajević to push past Maraš in the Drezga goal. The visitors slumped to the astro; they knew the game was gone at that point and it played out routinely. Not a bad game. Titograd are battling it out at the top of the league with another formerly big name fallen on hard times, FK Zeta. Titograd's win briefly took them to the top of the table but Zeta resumed the leadership this afternoon with a thumping 5-1 demolition of FK Zabjelo, a fan-run team with a big following. That was a three o'clock kick off but I'd had my football fill for the day and I'm not a groundhopper, so in the end couldn't be arsed. Next time however I will go and see Zabjelo- a suburb to the south west of Podgorica- when they are at home. They seem a great fan-run club and offer a lot of opportunities for the community to get involved in the game regardless of ability or result. Titograd are a good side to watch but football is eerie without any kind of crowd. I didn't go to Zeta as it's quite far away and I'd rather see Zabjelo in a home game. Zabjelo are the "best of the rest" in the league, sitting fourth but with zero chance of worrying the top three. My feeling is Zeta will hold off Titograd's challenge and return to the second tier. Photos: Montenegro FA HQ; Titograd clubhouse; the "stand"; Titograd, in red, celebrate the opener whilst the linesman gets it tight from the Drezga players; tonight's league table. Edited March 25 by Ivo den Bieman 22 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atfccfc Posted March 23 Share Posted March 23 First of a triple header over the next four days. James McGrory Park for St Roch's V Kilbirnie Ladeside 0-0, Crowd 400 or so. Entry £8. West if Scotland Division 1. Though this finished 0-0 it was a decent game. The Candy though will thank goalkeeper Ethan Mitchell for the point though as he made a string of fantastic saves before and after the hosts were reduced to 10 men when Galasso was shown a straight red for a late tackle after 30 minutes. I thought the red was harsh, a yellow would've sufficed. But the referee then nearly caused himself trouble with his inconsistency when he then let two similar tackles go unpunished, except for a free kick (one for each team) if he showed a red for the first the hosts were lucky not be be reduced to 9 a few moments later. The Hosts did have a few chances before the red card and after. But Kilbirnie Ladeside will be kicking themselves that they didn't win this. They almost snatched the 3 points at the death when they hit the post only for the rebound to be blasted over! 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jute Posted March 23 Share Posted March 23 (edited) Musselburgh Ath 1-0 Jeanfield Swifts. 2nd v 3rd in East of Scotland Premier league. First half was end to end with both teams creating decent chances. Musselburgh goal was a bit of a scrambled effort. Second half was not as good as game got a bit scrappy with a few fouls. Wind picking up probably didn’t help the standard of football. Win moves Musselburgh to 9 points behind leaders Broxburn with a game in hand. Edited March 26 by Jute 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buchan30 Posted March 23 Share Posted March 23 (edited) Elgin 1 Forfar 1. Cinch Scottish League two. Borough Briggs, Elgin. My last one for the 2023/24 season. A more exciting game than last weeks as Forfar continued their unbeaten run. A fantastic finish from Booth made it 1-0 but Forfar equalised with a lovely cut inside from Thomson and where we were, we could see it curl perfectly round the defender and knew it was it in before it hit the net. I think if Elgin had figured out that punting the ball up into a very strong wind, wasn’t helping their cause they would have got on better as they played some neat football at times. They could have won it on the counter, but Cairns blasted wide after running from his own half, giving and then eventually getting the ball back from the winger. They hit the post as well. Booth was named man of the match and rightly so, but Bray played well, looks like a good player at this level. We had a 4 hour drive there and back, so was good to get a good game sandwiched in-between. Borough Briggs is a good stadium, has a lounge inside the stand where you can go before the game as well. Edited March 23 by buchan30 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FifeSons Posted March 24 Share Posted March 24 Apologies, this probs isn't the place to post it, but if anyone is in London next weekend and fancies a ticket to Chelsea Burnley, drop me a message. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric's Cantina Posted March 24 Share Posted March 24 NK Svoboda Ljubljana 2 - 1 NK Kočevje 1 SNL Zahod ( Slovenian 3rd tier ) Free Entry Spent a few days in Ljubljana and Lake Bled and ended up taking a game in the Slovenian Lower Leagues. Quite unusual in that the refereeing team was all female. Only time I have seen something similar was a game involving Whitburn where only official was a woman. Incidentally Ljubljana is a rather nice city , and the scenery is very similar to Scotland. 15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atfccfc Posted March 24 Share Posted March 24 Challenge Cup final at Falkirk. Airdrieonians V TNS. 2-1 Airdrie. Crowd 3191. Ticket £20 programme £5. I've been meaning to go to this final for years now. But I always seemed to be working when it's on. But made it this year. The match was very open in the first half and TNS took a 12 th minute lead when the speedy Young crossed for Clark to score at the back post after a blistering counter attack. Airdrie though had also been looking dangerous and equalised on 22 minutes when McStravick hit a half volley into the top corner from outside the box. The match was end to end and very entertaining. Both teams could and probably should've scored again. The second half wasn't as exciting and Airdrie took control. TNS who were impressive in the first half lost their way a bit. And Airdrie took the lead when a clumsy challenge on the edge of the box resulted in a penalty. Todorov hit it low and hard to the goalkeepers right, he dived the right way but it was a good penalty. TNS FLfoufht back but excellent defending fr9m Aordrie and a couple of near misses meant that the cup would be staying in Scotland. 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy groundhopper Posted March 24 Share Posted March 24 My week finishes back at Benburb for the West Scotland Cup semi final's : Armadale (airdrie) v Troon Town (ayr) 7-0 gulf in class and ability clear to see, guess well done Troon on making it thus far. Pather FC (airdrie) v Maryhill Milan (gdsfl) 2-1 apart from a late surge,Milan never really got any control v a lively, hard working Pather side who thoroughly deserved the win. Att around 150+ over the two games. 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adamski Posted March 24 Share Posted March 24 Stockport County 5-0 MK Dons A trip to Edgeley Park while visiting friends who live nearby to see 2nd vs 4th in League Two. I’ve rarely seen a team on the end of a 5-0 defeat have so much of the play. MK had the best of it for the first half hour but then fell apart (some dodgy goalkeeping didn’t help) and found themselves 4-0 down by early in the second half. Paddy Madden, one of those names you see mentioned around the English lower leagues for years, pulling a lot of the strings. Goal #4 from Connor Lemonheigh-Evans was a beauty. The game largely petered out after that. 10,000 fans there - a sell out. Stockport are a likeable club that have vibes of being on the up. They have an old stand (in the pic) that looks pretty similar to the old stand at Palmerston, other than being updated sympathetically rather than left to rot by a crap board. Not quite so much likeability at least from me for MK Dons through the whole Wimbledon saga, but their fans made a lot of noise to be fair. We had seats in an uncovered seating area behind one of the goals. It absolutely pissed it down for large sections of the game: rain, hail, high winds, etc. There was an infamous Queens away game at Meadowbank in the early 90s where the stand was closed for a beer festival, everyone was moved to the open terracing, and the rain was biblical. I was there as a teenager. Yesterday might have been the biggest soaking I’ve taken at a football game since! 15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Mantis Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 On 24/03/2024 at 23:19, Adamski said: Stockport County 5-0 MK Dons A trip to Edgeley Park while visiting friends who live nearby to see 2nd vs 4th in League Two. I’ve rarely seen a team on the end of a 5-0 defeat have so much of the play. MK had the best of it for the first half hour but then fell apart (some dodgy goalkeeping didn’t help) and found themselves 4-0 down by early in the second half. Paddy Madden, one of those names you see mentioned around the English lower leagues for years, pulling a lot of the strings. Goal #4 from Connor Lemonheigh-Evans was a beauty. The game largely petered out after that. 10,000 fans there - a sell out. Stockport are a likeable club that have vibes of being on the up. They have an old stand (in the pic) that looks pretty similar to the old stand at Palmerston, other than being updated sympathetically rather than left to rot by a crap board. Not quite so much likeability at least from me for MK Dons through the whole Wimbledon saga, but their fans made a lot of noise to be fair. We had seats in an uncovered seating area behind one of the goals. It absolutely pissed it down for large sections of the game: rain, hail, high winds, etc. There was an infamous Queens away game at Meadowbank in the early 90s where the stand was closed for a beer festival, everyone was moved to the open terracing, and the rain was biblical. I was there as a teenager. Yesterday might have been the biggest soaking I’ve taken at a football game since! I had looked at a short break in Manchester with Mrs Mantis round about the turn of the year so I looked at the fixtures as it’s only about 7 mins in the train from Manchester. Seems like that uncovered end is the only public sale, the rest must be STs. Most games were selling out pretty early too. Still a possibility for next year, maybe they’ll be losing more games anyway… 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AUcal Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 Down in London this week and next for work, looking for a game to go to Friday / Saturday. Any recommendations? Preferably something other than premier league sides. Was thinking AFC Wimbledon, as I'm a big fan of their story and rise and noticed they had returned to Plough Lane (I assume not on the actual original site). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adamski Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 4 hours ago, The Mantis said: I had looked at a short break in Manchester with Mrs Mantis round about the turn of the year so I looked at the fixtures as it’s only about 7 mins in the train from Manchester. Seems like that uncovered end is the only public sale, the rest must be STs. Most games were selling out pretty early too. Still a possibility for next year, maybe they’ll be losing more games anyway… I only really have info on the game I went to, but for it we bought the tickets on the Friday eight days before the game. At that point there were maybe 150-200 seats available across the ground - mostly in the uncovered seating, but a smattering here and there around the rest of the ground. We were in a group of three though, and the uncovered area was the only place we could get seats together. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sergeant Wilson Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 (edited) 5 hours ago, AUcal said: Down in London this week and next for work, looking for a game to go to Friday / Saturday. Any recommendations? Preferably something other than premier league sides. Was thinking AFC Wimbledon, as I'm a big fan of their story and rise and noticed they had returned to Plough Lane (I assume not on the actual original site). Haringey Borough on Friday and Dulwich Hamlet on Saturday. If it's one or other make it Dulwich. Both Isthmian League. Edited March 26 by Sergeant Wilson 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AUcal Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 (edited) 36 minutes ago, Sergeant Wilson said: Haringey Borough on Friday and Dulwich Hamlet on Saturday. If it's one of other make it Dulwich. Both Isthmian League. Just had a wee look at both of these grounds and I'm very excited at the prospect. A double on the cards I think. Cheers! Edited March 26 by AUcal 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atfccfc Posted March 27 Share Posted March 27 22 hours ago, AUcal said: Down in London this week and next for work, looking for a game to go to Friday / Saturday. Any recommendations? Preferably something other than premier league sides. Was thinking AFC Wimbledon, as I'm a big fan of their story and rise and noticed they had returned to Plough Lane (I assume not on the actual original site). The new Plough Lane is about 100 metres from the original site, but same street. The new stadium has been built on the site of the Greyhound stadium. The original site has flats now. I've only been for a Rugby league game. It looks kinda temporary, like they ate planning on increasing capacity if needed. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.