[Rob North]

I'm fast homing in on completion of the East Region 'set of grounds' and this one meant that the North Region joined the Central Region as having been 'champagned'. I'd left this one thinking the ground and team wouldn't be up to much but must say I was at least a little surprised on both counts.

Nursery Park is a rather higgledy-piggledy ground hidden away amongst the houses off the Arbroath Road. While the facilities are not totally state of the art it's nevertheless pleasing in many ways. The old stand looks rickety, and is in need of a little TLC, but nevertheless is quite sturdy. There's a small area of cover by the entrance to the playing area which includes a tea bar, more of which soon. One side has a factory behind the fence, another has conifers and a caravan park, the near end wooden garages and flats and the far end a semi-wooded bank with houses along the top looking out over the valley. The pitch is railed off on three sides and has 50-60 yards of hard standing on the stand side.

The match was pretty good, but the highlight was the steak pie served from the tea bar. With only West Calder and Dalkeith to be visited the Brechin Vics steak pie joins Crossgates Primrose's equally tasty offering at the head of East Junior Gastronomic League Table. Neither side are particularly successful but they do know how to keep the faithful fed. Get there early though as their pie order isn't huge and steak pies had run out by half-time, leaving patrons with a choice of 'only' mince and mealy pies or macaroni pies.

Brechins Vics have had a terrible struggle in recent seasons, struggling for much of the time to avoid bottom spot along with Forfar Albion and Coupar Angus. As the second team in a fairly small town it's always likely to be a bit of an uphill job, but this season they have shown up much better with their four wins putting them fourth from bottom. Kirriemuir have struggled themselves with only the dire and tailed off Forfar Albion (0 points to date) below them.

It was a decent game, both sides playing with a good attitude and doing their best to move the ball fluently despite a strong wind. Brechin took the lead on twenty minutes as an under pressure Thistle defender put in his own net. The home goalkeeper repaid the mistake by palming a corner into his own on the half-hour. Within two minutes the away keeper dallied too much from a back pass and the clearance was charge down and bounce over the line.

Very little to choose between the sides in the second half. Brechin then lost a defender, very harshly dismissed for 'violent conduct' having flicked his leg to try and untangle himself from a Thistle player. The referee's control of the play was fine, but he brandished the card far too quickly when a stern word would have sufficed. Kirriemuir equalised with 10 minutes to go but Vics held on for a point which was the least they deserved.

[HTG]

Rob North, on Mar 14 2009, 20:40, said:

I'm fast homing in on completion of the East Region 'set of grounds' and this one meant that the North Region joined the Central Region as having been 'champagned'. I'd left this one thinking the ground and team wouldn't be up to much but must say I was at least a little surprised on both counts.

Nursery Park is a rather higgledy-piggledy ground hidden away amongst the houses off the Arbroath Road. While the facilities are not totally state of the art it's nevertheless pleasing in many ways. The old stand looks rickety, and is in need of a little TLC, but nevertheless is quite sturdy. There's a small area of cover by the entrance to the playing area which includes a tea bar, more of which soon. One side has a factory behind the fence, another has conifers and a caravan park, the near end wooden garages and flats and the far end a semi-wooded bank with houses along the top looking out over the valley. The pitch is railed off on three sides and has 50-60 yards of hard standing on the stand side.

The match was pretty good, but the highlight was the steak pie served from the tea bar. With only West Calder and Dalkeith to be visited the Brechin Vics steak pie joins Crossgates Primrose's equally tasty offering at the head of East Junior Gastronomic League Table. Neither side are particularly successful but they do know how to keep the faithful fed. Get there early though as their pie order isn't huge and steak pies had run out by half-time, leaving patrons with a choice of 'only' mince and mealy pies or macaroni pies.

Brechins Vics have had a terrible struggle in recent seasons, struggling for much of the time to avoid bottom spot along with Forfar Albion and Coupar Angus. As the second team in a fairly small town it's always likely to be a bit of an uphill job, but this season they have shown up much better with their four wins putting them fourth from bottom. Kirriemuir have struggled themselves with only the dire and tailed off Forfar Albion (0 points to date) below them.

It was a decent game, both sides playing with a good attitude and doing their best to move the ball fluently despite a strong wind. Brechin took the lead on twenty minutes as an under pressure Thistle defender put in his own net. The home goalkeeper repaid the mistake by palming a corner into his own on the half-hour. Within two minutes the away keeper dallied too much from a back pass and the clearance was charge down and bounce over the line.

Very little to choose between the sides in the second half. Brechin then lost a defender, very harshly dismissed for 'violent conduct' having flicked his leg to try and untangle himself from a Thistle player. The referee's control of the play was fine, but he brandished the card far too quickly when a stern word would have sufficed. Kirriemuir equalised with 10 minutes to go but Vics held on for a point which was the least they deserved.

Brechin Vics sounds like a plum draw in next season's EoS Cup. Thanks for the heads-up Rob! Mind you, Crossgates is a wee bit closer and the grub's top drawer.