Random Matches You Are Going To...

[Marten]

Rossvale Women 0-3 Dryburgh Athletic
Excelsior Stadium, Airdrie

Semi final of the SWF Championship and League One Cup. Dryburgh are bottom of the league but were playing very well today. Good team performance and a deserved win for them.

[eindhovendee]

18 hours ago, Sergeant Wilson said:

A hybrid of AstroTurf and more AstroTurf?

Very good point Sarge. I had asked the couple next to me about the pitch which looked fantastic, turns out it is regular 3G though the amount that it was watered also made their hybrid line more believable, never seen a grass pitch get that much water before a game and I was a season ticket holder at CD Tenerife for 7 years.

[JMDPco]

Las Rozas 0-3 Eibar

First round of the Copa del Rey and an enjoyable little trip to Las Rozas, a commuter town on the edge of Madrid. As you'd expect, Eibar came through given they were in La Liga recently and are near the top of the Segunda whilst Las Rozas play further down the pyramid.

The home side were well on top first half and should really have been ahead but as soon as Eibar scored with about 25 mins left, it was only a matter of how many. I'd say just under 1000 in the one stand with a good contingent of "ultras" from both clubs at either end of the stand.  A little trip to the La Virgen brewery straight after made for an excellent afternoon. 

[Craig fae the Vale]

4 hours ago, The Mantis said:

Since this week's ICT capitulation wasn't due till 1730, I nipped down to Ayr for a 1330 kickoff in the WOSL Cup at Dam Park Stadium. Whitletts 1 Blantyre 2. One set of Vics propping up the div 1 table, the other in the promotion hunt, and it did show overall. Whitletts did take the lead but overall it could have been more. Lunch was 2 steak pies @ £2.50 and a Bovril @ £1.20. Excellent friendly people at Vics. Lived in Ayr for a year and would have liked to stay a bit longer, but had to get up the road for Doddsy's Disasters FC.

Good folk at Whittlets. Looking forward to seeing what their new facility is like when they get it up and running.

[kingjoey]

Not sure if this qualifies as a random match in the scheme of things, but it is for me. On the way to The Terrace event at Hampden on Saturday night, me and my two sons are going to take in Dumbarton v Forfar. Wanted to visit a ground none of us had been to before so it was a choice of Dumbarton or Albion Rovers. Hoping that the view of the Rock is more aesthetically pleasing than that of Coatbridge. 

[Christophe]

3 hours ago, kingjoey said:

Not sure if this qualifies as a random match in the scheme of things, but it is for me. On the way to The Terrace event at Hampden on Saturday night, me and my two sons are going to take in Dumbarton v Forfar. Wanted to visit a ground none of us had been to before so it was a choice of Dumbarton or Albion Rovers. Hoping that the view of the Rock is more aesthetically pleasing than that of Coatbridge. 

Sounds prime rando to me mate.

Get it on the thread! 

[kingjoey]

10 minutes ago, Christophe said:

Sounds prime rando to me mate.

Get it on the thread! 

I was at Boghead a couple of times in the early seventies, so I'm expecting a huge uplift in the Dumbarton match experience. 

[DoingThe42]

3 hours ago, kingjoey said:

Not sure if this qualifies as a random match in the scheme of things, but it is for me. On the way to The Terrace event at Hampden on Saturday night, me and my two sons are going to take in Dumbarton v Forfar. Wanted to visit a ground none of us had been to before so it was a choice of Dumbarton or Albion Rovers. Hoping that the view of the Rock is more aesthetically pleasing than that of Coatbridge. 

Depends what you're after, but for me Albion Rovers is vastly superior as a place to see a game. Cliftonhill is a fucking tip, and it's magnificent. Dumbarton is an identikit single-stand effort.

That said, Dumbarton is unquestionably a better place to spend time, and with them being top of the league you should see a few goals as you'd fancy them to scud Forfar. Top v bottom.

[The Mantis]

52 minutes ago, DoingThe42 said:

Depends what you're after, but for me Albion Rovers is vastly superior as a place to see a game. Cliftonhill is a fucking tip, and it's magnificent. Dumbarton is an identikit single-stand effort.

Have to agree, had many cheery wee visits to Cliftonhill. Only made it to the Rock once with a QoS mate about 10 years ago. Missed both ICT visits there which is a bummer as I've seen them play at nearly every league ground, and 55 in total.

It's quite important for me to get a decent photy as part of the experience. I stumped up the cash and visited the castle and got a shot from above. Unfortunately the castle is closed right now.

I saw a good pic on FB the other day, taken from the other side of the park, but the guy had used a drone to get the height.

[kingjoey]

6 hours ago, kingjoey said:

Not sure if this qualifies as a random match in the scheme of things, but it is for me. On the way to The Terrace event at Hampden on Saturday night, me and my two sons are going to take in Dumbarton v Forfar. Wanted to visit a ground none of us had been to before so it was a choice of Dumbarton or Albion Rovers. Hoping that the view of the Rock is more aesthetically pleasing than that of Coatbridge. 

Well that's a bugger. Just received an email from The Terrace to advise that Saturday's event has been postponed till next year, so no trip to Dumbarton. My choice now is to go to Brechin v Forres which is 15 minutes away, or travel up to Cove v Morton for a new ground for me.

[Craig fae the Vale]

St Cadoc's 1-0 Thorniewood United 

A good win for the home side on a very cold night in Govan.

[Christophe]

On 15/11/2022 at 13:23, The Mantis said:

Have to agree, had many cheery wee visits to Cliftonhill. Only made it to the Rock once with a QoS mate about 10 years ago. Missed both ICT visits there which is a bummer as I've seen them play at nearly every league ground, and 55 in total.

It's quite important for me to get a decent photy as part of the experience. I stumped up the cash and visited the castle and got a shot from above. Unfortunately the castle is closed right now.

I saw a good pic on FB the other day, taken from the other side of the park, but the guy had used a drone to get the height.

It really is an absolute crime that they done one stand in that place, and gave it an 100% ZERO vista of the tourist attraction sight right on its, LITERAL, doorstep!

Edited November 17, 2022 by Christophe

[Guest]

Syngenta 0-1 Camelon

King Cup Round 2

The joys of talking to the Camelon twitter guy at Lochore sees us at Stenny for a shitshow.

I've been to Ochilview several times so the ground wasn't news. The fourth different team I've seen at home here.

Pretty turgid game with very little quality. The works team from Grangemouth had the better of the game before the centre half was stupidly sent off for two yellows. Camelon dominated possession from then on, even more so when another home player was sent off in the 2nd half.

PRAISE BE!! Camelon score a 93rd minute winner so we can all go home. Somehow we're 100% for Camelon away games don't think they've won many that we haven't been to. Will be avoiding them for a while so I don't get any "big team found" accusations etc

[Le Tout P'ti FC]

Newtongrange Star 2 Stoneyburn 0 HT. South Challenge Cup, third round.

Game started in style. Two goals, two shots off the bar, missed penalty. All before I could finish my steak and haggis pie!

Has calmed down a touch since but has been very entertaining.

EDIT - finished 5-3 Newtongrange AET. Defences were well on top.

[Guest]

Fraserburgh 1-0 Buckie Thistle

Yes it was me at Stenhousemuir last night. Yes I am off my head.

Run up to the North East corner for top to the table Highland League action.

Buckie level with Brechin before kick off and end it 3 behind after not laying a glove on last season's champions. Fraserburgh lead fairly early and even have the luxury of a penalty miss. Buckie offered nothing and incomprehensibly launch every goal kick into a fierce wind. Silly to say in November but I think it's Brechin's title to lose.

Big crowd here today, helped by Aberdeen and the ugly sisters not playing of course. That busy I didn't even get a cup of tea! One more ticked off in the Highland League. Do recommend.

[atfccfc]

My original plan was to head up to Aberdeen and tick off Balmoral stadium for Cove Rangers v Greenock Morton. But as all trains to Aberdeen from Edinburgh were cancelled, I headed over to Stirling for The Binos V East Fife. Which turned out to be a very entertaining afternoon. East Fife started well in the first 4 minutes before two quick goals for the home team put them in control. It was a bit harsh on The Fifers but they fought their way back into the match just before half time. The second half wasn't as free flowing but both teams had their chances. But it wasn't until deep in injury time when an East Fife corner broke for the home team who needed two bites at the cherry to get their third goal. 

An enjoyable afternoon. £15 for an adult and £2.50 for a programme with a free team sheet thrown in. 

I'll get to Cove another time 

Edited November 19, 2022 by atfccfc
Spelling

[The Mantis]

Linlithgow 3 Civil Service Strollers 1. South Challenge Cup. Tie of the round for me, the best side in the EOSL v a top LL side. Also an excuse to sample a couple of beers at Platform 3.
Strollers played some very neat stuff from back to middle, offered very little up front, but took the lead through a spot kick, but were ultimately blown away by a typical Lithgae performance and a hat-trick from Mark Stowe.
The big Strollers no 9 Faye got booked early on, nearly got booked again but the ref used his discretion, tried to grab the ball off the no 6 for the spot kick, got into a rammy with his teammates and got subbed after about 20 mins...

Edited November 19, 2022 by The Mantis

[Andy groundhopper]

Didn't see the early k.o so only saw 2nd half of Almondsbury v Nailsea & Tickenham (Western div 1 ) 03 att 50 ish. Good stuff, tackles galore, saw two goals, both possibly could have been prevented. Visitors just come up from the Somerset County League and look a good side, currently 2nd place.

[Marten]

Lochee United's game got called off and so were the alternatives I was considering. I ended up in Aberdeen to watch Hermes 1-0 Banchory St. Ternan in the North Superleague.

A very friendly club at a basic, but nice, ground hidden behind some companies in an industrial estate. One of the committee members told me that their problem was scoring goals. I can imagine what he said, Hermes were easily the better side and should have won by more, but they will be happy they did get the win over the line.

Edited November 19, 2022 by Marten

[An Eejit Abroad]

DCFC 0-1 NoVa FC, US Open Cup

Att: ~75

Walked right past a lovely grass pitch next to Georgetown University in Washington D.C. to get to an identikit astroturf multisport pitch for DCFC's (DC Premier League; tier 6) tie against NoVa FC (Eastern Premier Soccer League; tier 6 - I think) in the US Open Cup, the American national cup competition which was first played back in 1914.

This game was part of the third qualifying round for the 2023 iteration of the tournament and NoVa, based in Leesburg about 40 miles northwest of Washington, will now go into a fourth and final qualifying round for a chance to enter the tournament proper next spring. It's a great little tournament in the early rounds, with a really interesting history and lots of clubs that can trace their roots back to various waves of immigration, so obviously the soccer powers that be seem to continually be trying to ruin it for the benefit of the only thing that matters in US club football, MLS.

Game was decent enough despite the awful surface at Jelleff Recreation Center, which is round the corner from Dumbarton Oaks and about a ten minute walk from the British Embassy. DCFC probably unlucky to lose on the night.