Footballfirst

I think an early decision was made on Flatman and he was loaned out to allow Hearts to develop other younger centre backs. I'd expect all three to start the season in the LL. However, they, along with Forrester, Drysdale and Rathie, will all get the opportunity to show what they can do in pre season with the 1st team. It's up to them to show that they have what it takes to be part of Naismith's plans going forward.

Looking forward to next season, Hearts will have to replace players who are no longer eligible at U20 (those born in 2004). Of those, Pollock and Kirk have contracts for next season, while Flatman, Dall, Gordon and Thomas are all out of contract and likely to be released. McFarlane is also a 2004, but he has a contract and keepers can be a year older so remains eligible. Given Pollock was with the 1st team and Flatman and Kirk were out on loan, only three regularly playing B Team football in the second half of this season need replaced. Tait, who is a year younger, has also progressed to the 1st team, so is unlikely to feature. The rest of the current squad will be a year older and more experienced at LL level so can be expected to compete towards the top end of the table once again. However I don't think they have the same depth among those coming through who will be 17/18. They do have a good crop of 16 year olds though, so I think they will seek to balance the squad with one third at 19, one third at 17/18 and one third at 16. The challenge for the younger ones is to get up to speed with the pace and physicality of the league, so they could be more vulnerable in the first couple of months of the season.

Who EK will face in the HL/LL playoff remains up for grabs with 3 HL sides still in contention going into the final week of games, Brechin, Fraseburgh and Buckie. Brechin remains favourite with points in the bag and an advantageous goal difference, but the gap can be closed, with any dropped points likely to be pivotal. Pos P W D L GF GA GD P Brechin City FC 1 32 24 3 5 87 27 60 75 Fraserburgh FC 2 32 23 3 6 89 37 52 72 Buckie Thistle FC 3 31 23 3 5 84 33 51 72 Remaining fixtures 15 April Buckie v Strathspey 16 April Brechin v Keith 17 April Strathspey v Buckie, Fraserburgh v Brora 20 April Brora v Brechin, Buckie v Keith, Fraserburgh v Strathspey Strathspey's involvement could be key, given that they have conceded 127 goals thus far. The opportunity is there for Buckie, in particular, to take advantage of their two games in midweek against the bottom club, while Fraserburgh play them on the final day. Brora has games against both Brechin and Fraserburgh, so there is scope for dropped points, similarly with Keith playing both Brechin and Buckie.

No dogs allowed but they do have resident family of foxes who I've seen getting fed with sausage rolls or on occasions run across the pitch (I don't mean Hearts B coach Liam Fox).

If you had highlighted the full sentence, then the explanation is clear re non Saturday games "Except as otherwise approved by the Board under a 'ground sharing' agreement". Broomhill, East Stirlingshire, University of Stirling, Hearts B and Celtic B all require that approval.

Balde's shot was definitely over the line.

It was an even game, but heavily influenced by the wind. Tranent had the better of the first half with the wind at their backs and East Kilbride the second. Tranent's opener came from an in-swinging corner with Brett forcing it over the line at the back post. Balde's equaliser had an element of doubt about whether or not it crossed the line after coming off the underside of the crossbar, but it was a good strike from the edge of the box. No doubt about EK's second from Lockie though. It was a great strike from 25 yards into the postage stamp corner. Higginbotham's equaliser for Tranent had a bit of good fortune about it. His free kick from the left was poorly struck and hit the single defender in front of him, but the rebound came straight back to him and his cross cum shot dipped just under the bar at the far post. Cammy Ross should have won it in the final seconds of stoppage time but shot wildly over when through on goal. The less said about the quality of the penalties, the better. 7 misses out of 16 attempts.

You could reasonably make the same criticism of University of Stirling, Broomhill, East Stirlingshire and Celtic B who have rescheduled games because of ground sharing conflicts with their host clubs.

£50k lost in the relegation season. How are the finances doing in this financial year? Any progress on the fan ownership front?

The identity of the Highland League champions who will compete in the play-off is still uncertain after Brechin lost to Buckie last night. Brechin still remains favourite, but there are still 4 teams with a realistic chance. Pos P W D L GF GA GD P Brechin City FC 1 29 22 3 4 77 21 56 69 Fraserburgh FC 2 30 21 3 6 80 34 46 66 Banks o' Dee FC 3 30 19 8 3 82 29 53 65 Buckie Thistle FC 4 27 20 2 5 73 32 41 62 Formartine United FC 5 28 17 5 6 68 40 28 56 Huntly FC 6 31 16 5 10 80 58 22 53 Brora Rangers FC 7 27 15 7 5 54 33 21 52 Nairn County FC 8 31 15 4 12 55 56 -1 49 Turriff United FC 9 29 14 1 14 66 57 9 43 Games to play (not necessarily in that order due to rescheduled games) Brechin - Wick (A), Keith (A), Fraserburgh (A), Forres (H), Brora (A) Fraserburgh - Brechin (H), Strathspey (A), Brora (H), Strathspey (H) Bank's O'Dee - Clachnacuddin (A), Huntly (H), Brora (A), Wick (A) Buckie - Deveronvale (A), Strathspey (H), Keith (A), Deveronvale (H), Brora (H), Keith (H), Strathspey (A) Key game looks to be Fraserburgh v Brechin on 6th April.

Makenzie Kirk outscored him in the first half of the season, before heading out on loan. Other Hearts B players for consideration in a team of the season would be keeper Liam McFarlane, centre back Luke Rathie and attacking midfielder Callum Sandilands.

I came across these aerial shots when browsing a photographic archive site. They're dated 20/09/1932. Plenty coal wagons surrounding the ground. https://canmore.org.uk/search/image?SIMPLE_KEYWORD=cowdenbeath%20central%20park&per_page=72

There remains the possibility of Bonnyrigg being dragged into the playoff fight, as their recent form hasn't been great.

Much like the first game between the sides at K Park, Hearts high press and pace created problems for EK. I've seen maybe half a dozen EK games this season and on each occasion they have struggled against sides that are prepared to work hard and have a bit of pace. EK's experience and ability are obviously great assets, as they have proved when coming from behind in so many games, but tonight should send another warning to them that they can't take anything for granted in the play offs. Hearts could have scored more from their quick breaks but sometimes took the wrong option. EK only had a 10-15 minute spell of ascendency shortly after they scored their 2nd goal but were denied by a couple of good saves from the Hearts keeper and saw another shot go narrowly wide. Thereafter EK ran out of ideas and legs and Hearts got themselves a cushion with their 4th goal, again on a quick break, and were able to see out the rest of the game with some comfort. Decent crowd on the night of around 300.

Bonnyrigg now has its Bronze licence, as per the update last month. https://www.scottishfa.co.uk/media/11303/230124-club-licensing-awards.pdf

I understand that Celtic has once again sought to have a Lowland League fixture postponed because of international commitments, this time Tranent v Celtic B on 23 March. Scotland U19s have UEFA games scheduled on 20, 23 and 26 March. Celtic and Hearts each had 3 players away with the Scotland U19 squad who played two matches in Croatia last week, the second of them on Friday. Both clubs still managed to field sides in the LL on Saturday, and won (in Hearts case against Tranent at Forester's Park), so there is no consistency. You might have thought that Celtic would be keen to give a "development opportunity" to some of their better U18s against Tranent, as Hearts did at the weekend.

Bo'ness Athletic won the cup with an 89th minute goal giving them a 2-1 win. One bonus of the late goal was that it avoided another 30 minutes extra time in a match that was pretty poor TBH. Athletic probably edged the first half in terms of chances and led 1-0, although the University should have had a penalty in the first couple of minutes that the ref inexplicably waved away. In the second half HWU had the better of the chances and deservedly levelled from the penalty spot, only to suffer the late goal. The game was spoiled to a large extent by an officious referee showing multiple yellow cards to both sides for minor offences, then taking an unnecessary long time to record everything in his notebook (there wasn't a single foul I would have described as reckless or dangerous). There were also numerous stoppages for injuries that didn't need the attention of the physios.

Fairly even first half, with Tranent taking their chances. Lots of huff and puff in the second half with EK seemingly running out of ideas. Mick Kennedy was still giving it a few expletives from in front of the dressing rooms, moaning at his side to keep the the f***ing ball. A minute later they got a goal back. All the momentum was now with them and they managed to turn what looked like a certain defeat with 15 mins left into an unlikely victory.

The Aberdeen U18 v St Johnstone U18 youth cup tie was also scheduled for Friday, but they managed to get it rescheduled to the previous Tuesday. It wouldn't surprise me if Rangers insisted on playing the game on the scheduled date and the SFA complied with their master's request.

Hearts were missing a load of players who played earlier this season for multiple reasons including 1st team call ups, loans, injuries and the U18 clash. Tait, Pollock, Drysdale, Thomas, Kirk, Flatman, McLuckie, Wilson, Nair, Ross and Stevenson. Not all could have played, but it gives a bit of perspective. That's why I think its wrong for non-competitive B Teams to participate in a competitive league. Colts will be laughing tonight with EK, Tranent and Bo'ness perhaps rightly unimpressed.

My mistake about Hearts players playing two games. I had looked at the wrong U18 line up. They are still compromised in terms of their side though.

Hearts have only 3 subs listed tonight, a sub keeper, plus a 16 and 17 year old. The also have two players playing their second game of the day.

Hearts included six players with B Team experience in their U18 youth cup tie this afternoon, so will likely field a weaker side this evening, or a least a sparse bench. Surprisingly, they lost 1-0 to Rangers U18s despite fielding a strong side.

Similarly with Hearts and Rangers v 4th tier sides, no Scottish youngsters in their starting line ups. Meanwhile, Barcelona started a 16 year old centre back tonight, in their La Liga game away to Real Betis.

Following on from Hearts B's top striker Makenzie Kirk going on loan to Hamilton, their best centre back Callum Flatman is going on loan to Edinburgh City (good luck to him with that ). With midfielders Macaulay Tait and Finlay Pollock also likely to spend more time with the first team, we may well see that Hearts B find it more difficult to maintain the levels achieved in the first half of the season. There may also be more loan deals in the pipeline. They will of course bring in more younger players (U18s) so it will be a good test for them going forward.