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Random Matches You Are Going To...


Haitch

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Victoria Park, Dingwall for Ross County V St Mirren. 3-2 to the home team in a cracking see saw match. £28 ticket, no programme but if you ask nicely in the shop they will give you a team sheet. 

Also if you show your ticket to the bus driver in Inverness you get a return for £5. Not sure how much is it without. 

I had originally booked the train but with the strike (that was suspended yesterday) I booked the bus from Edinburgh. 

Good day out. Now for the return journey 

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Bonnyrigg Rose 2-3 Elgin City. Elgin raced to 3-0 half time lead thanks to 2 penalties and an absolute howler from the Bonnyrigg keeper. Bonnyrigg played better in the second half but were not able to get the equaliser. 
 

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Not sure how random this is given I was here a few weeks back, as I said on the FA Cup thread, couldn't get tickets for Buxton so opted for Stockport v Swindon at £10.

Don't think I'm going to let them pick a seat for me again, was 6 seats from my last visit, front row and next to where the sides come out.

No idea if there is a history of trouble but counted at least 6 mounted police, 2 police HGV lorries converted as offices and loads of police around the ground, there was only around 2-300 Swindon fans in the ground

We had a "minute's silence" as this is the nearest home date to the 11th and they had a teenager playing the Last Post so not much of a silence but had us all shitting it in case he made a mess of it. (He didn't)

Both teams in good form going into the game and both League 2 sides.

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Swindon started well but played out from the back in a Dundee F.C. under McCann style, ie the defenders panicked as soon as any pressure was put on them, County capitalised on this and after 30 mins were 3-0 up and coasting.

As if the game wasn't entertaining enough we also had a Mr Gavin Gunning shouting random coaching advice from the sidelines as he is on the coaching staff at Swindon. His shouts made no sense whatsoever but had the crowd laughing. Sadly he didn't pick the ball up and f**k off. (The taller of the 2 coaches)

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Second half produced one cracking goal, could have been 6 or 7 but the Swindon keeper had some good saves.

It was freezing with fine rain but happy County fans. Obligatory 60+ fat b*****d running round the Cheadle end with his tits out.

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Gretna 0-3 Spartans
A trip to the far south of Scotland, it's strange to think that this ground hosted tier 2 football not that long ago. Not a bad ground at all, but obviously quite small for that level. For the Lowland League it's more than fine. Spartans were the better side but didn't create much in the first half. In the second half they were more effective and ran out deserved winners, their third goal was a beauty.

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Raydale's changed a wee bit since the last time I was there.

Went to Shielfield today, I hadn't been there since Berwick were a Scottish League club. I've seen the place fairly full and now I've seen the place fairly empty.

The burger van is gone. They have a pie stall and I had a no bad chicken and gravy pie.

Draw was a fair result although Strollers might be kicking themselves at losing an equaliser late on.

Every time I went to Shielfield on a winter's day there seemed to be a picturesque sunset, there's a Berwick microclimate or something

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26/42: Raith Rovers 3-1 Hamilton Accies, Championship, 5/11/2022.

Decided to shift my viewing today from Bonnyrigg to Kirkcaldy, for better or worse. Going to do a Christmas visit to Bonnyrigg instead, and saw a decent game at Starks Park today. First time seeing Raith here, my only previous visit being for an East Fife v Hearts League Cup tie years ago.

Easton and Connolly were stand-outs for Rovers, and they deserved their win, although Accies never really felt out of it. Millen and Ngwenya also looked good for Raith and they seem a well-balanced side. Millen is solid at right-back, and Ngwenya on the left gets forward well to support attacks. Smith in goal for Accies had an excellent save in the first half, and they had nice moments going forward. I like the look of Winter.

Starks Park could be a great ground if it wasn't uninhabited about 50% of the way around the park. It didn't have a lot of atmosphere, but it's hard to see how it could with basically both touchlines having no fans on them and the away end hosting a two-figure away support. Not a criticism of the Accies fans who showed up, just difficult for a ground to have an atmosphere when there's only really one end with any fans in it.

Weird moment in the first half when I caught Raith sub Lewis Vaughan staring right at me. Slightly awkward when he realised I'd caught his eye and continued staring. Very strange. I was just eating my pie.

Enjoyed the day, no luck with yet another half-time draw.

* Top marks to the old boy in the second picture who brought his own chair.

 

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Edited by DoingThe42
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18 hours ago, Jute said:

Bonnyrigg Rose 2-3 Elgin City. Elgin raced to 3-0 half time lead thanks to 2 penalties and an absolute howler from the Bonnyrigg keeper. Bonnyrigg played better in the second half but were not able to get the equaliser. 
 

 

Moonrise over Boomtown

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A few weeks back I was at the Limassol Derby.

 

Apollon Vs Aris, the derby is known as the derby of the gods. But, Apollo was not smiling on Apollon as the traditionally smaller Aris ran out 3 nil winners.

 

Big name for Aris bring Alexander Kokorin. The infamous russian striker who was jailed for battering a government official whilst with St Petersburg. Far too good for this level and it showed as he opened the scoring with 15 to go. Apollon couldn't lay a glove and the route was completed in the 89' and 95' minute after the goalkeeper gave away a penalty.

Some atmosphere as the crowd never stopped singing. 

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2 hours ago, sailorcowden said:

A few weeks back I was at the Limassol Derby.

 

Apollon Vs Aris, the derby is known as the derby of the gods. But, Apollo was not smiling on Apollon as the traditionally smaller Aris ran out 3 nil winners.

 

Big name for Aris bring Alexander Kokorin. The infamous russian striker who was jailed for battering a government official whilst with St Petersburg. Far too good for this level and it showed as he opened the scoring with 15 to go. Apollon couldn't lay a glove and the route was completed in the 89' and 95' minute after the goalkeeper gave away a penalty.

Some atmosphere as the crowd never stopped singing. 

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I had a fantasy team named in "tribute" to Apollon.

They were called Appalling Anusol 

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Took the chance of a 2pm kickoff to re-complete the EOSL grounds with a visit to "Pat Scullion's Inverkeithing Hillfield Swifts" v  "Ross Allum's Hill o'Beath Hawthorn" at Dalgety Bay. Haws impressed with their pace on the break. A late consolation for the Swifts made it 1-3 at FT.

Headed back over the bridge to catch Bonnyrigg v Elgin, and I see it's Haws v Elgin next up in the Scottish.

If you collect pin badges, Swifts charge the ridiculous price of £1. The last image is from the balcony where about a dozen miserable gets were watching for free.

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FK Mornar vs FK Jezero today

Poor game but a 1 nil win for Mornar. Goal in the first half well taken and coming out of the blue. Game then fell into poor gamesmanship (or as Falkirk fans have dubbed it McPakeball) worth the 3 euro and a league off the list 

 

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First off, I've been lurking in this thread for years and it is very much one of the best places on the internet. Thanks to all that have provided great content over the years - particularly, as somebody who has been living abroad for quite a while now, those posting their experiences at the lower tier and non-league grounds back home. Provides me with something as close to sentimentality as I'm likely to get.

Osasuna 2-0 Real Valladolid, La Liga

Att: 19,249

Got into Pamplona about 45 minutes before the match and really struggled to get a taxi to the stadium which is a good hour walk from the station. Managed to get there with a couple of minutes to spare thanks to a driver without much concern for traffic lights.

The stadium itself is a cracking new build. Had bought tickets in advance for the upper tier which came it at €45 each so not the cheapest. We were sat above the Osasuna ultras and there was a cracking atmosphere all game. Valladolid seemed to have sold out the away end - quite unusual for Spain - but you wouldn't have known they were there if it wasn't for the purple catching your eye constantly. There was the usual coating of nut shells in the stands and half-time sandwiches. A great experience all in.

Osasuna are a good side this year - currently sitting 5th - and dominated the game. An early penalty followed by a quick second goal pretty much killed off the game in the first half. The home side should have won more convincingly but squandered plenty of chances.

The stadium is about a half hour walk from the historic centre of Pamplona. It isn't the most spectacular town on the peninsula - although I'm sure the bull run is very impressive in its own way - but the little bars in the winding old streets away from the main square are as good a place to have a few Sunday evening drinks as anywhere. Most people were taking their drinks and standing on the street which made for a nice atmosphere. I managed to avoid all the Americans looking to walk in the footsteps of Hemingway too which was a great relief. 

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Real Betis 3-0 HJK Helsinki, Europa League

Att: 35,384

A pretty straightforward win for Real Betis who had already qualified for the knockout rounds. Betis scored a screamer early on but HJK looked competitive and performed impressively until the home side got their second late in the first half. The home side brought on a number of their big hitters in the second half and should have really scored more than three. The big disappointment of the day was missing out on seeing Joaquin, who was out injured. Probably the last opportunity to see him before he retires as he is now 41 - incredible to think he was 21 when Championship Manager 4 came out.

The Estadio Benito Villamarin is a big concrete lump from the outside but a fantastic stadium from the inside. It is about a 45 minute walk from the Plaza de Espana through a pretty affluent area of Seville. There's not a whole lot of options for food and drink around the stadium so I ended up getting a hotdog from a van behind the Gol Sur which was decorated in Legion Espanola posters - Betis are definitely the stauncher of the two big clubs in Seville. My broken Spanish became a bit less expansive when I noticed the decor but they only asked for a couple of Euros and not Gibraltar. 

The atmosphere in the ground was a bit disappointing but not too surprising considering the game was meaningless. The ground erupted a few times when songs that were obviously fan favourites were started but otherwise the home support was pretty muted. HJK brought around 400 and they sang non-stop from kickoff. 

A little known Scottish referee called "Willie Collum" held the whistle for this one. He didn't have a bad game. Conor Hazard of Celtic was in goals for HJK and had a decent game despite the score. It'll be interesting to see where he ends up in January as the Finnish season is now finnished. Scottish Premiership clubs with goalkeeping struggles will surely be having a think about him.

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Caledonian Braves 3-1 Civil Service Strollers. 

Never thought I’d say this about another ground having had a season ticket at Broadwood for years watching Clyde, but that was up there with the coldest I’ve ever been at a football match. 

Braves well worth the win - I expected a bit more from CSS (not based on much other than their lofty league position to be fair) but was quite disappointed, although their goal was an absolute cracker. 
 

Entry: Free

Bovril: £1

Cheap night out.

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Tranent Juniors 4 OG Broomhill 0. The Podcasters started brightly but never really had a chance after Maughan's opener on the break in 5 mins, followed by 2 from McGowan and one by Reid. Tranent look more impressive every time I see them. They play with such a pace and intensity that they must be genuine title contenders. Broomhill were so hard pressed they could offer very little beyond shuffling it around between defence and midfield and long diagonals out to both wings. A good crowd of 658.

Sub Si Ferry never got on but at 4-0 Tranent introduced The Legend Wayne Mac.

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Edited by The Mantis
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