Weston-Super-Mare vs Dorchester Town (20/11/10)

Match 97

Ground #: 64

Ground: Woodspring Stadium

Competition: FA Trophy 3rd Qualifying Round

Kick Off: 3:00pm

Cost: £6.50 (student)

Programme: £2

Attendance: 184

Weston-Super-Mare 1

Moss (O.G) 78’, Gilbert s/off 50’

Dorchester Town 3

Devlin 13’, Ings 71’, Moss 85’

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For the 20th November I had several grand plans for games I was going to attend, some were quite far away (Cheltenham) and some were quite close (Crediton). However, once I discovered that there were cheap train tickets to Weston-Super-Mare for £13.50 and that the town’s Blue Square South side were at home in the FA Trophy that day, my trip was sorted and it was another November trip to the seaside!

Weston-Super-Mare is a seaside resort in North Somerset located right on the Bristol Channel. While there is evidence that the site was there in the Iron Age, Weston was a small village until the 19th Century when it became a seaside resort for the Southwest. With the decline of all seaside resorts during the 20th Century, Weston has been saved from turning into Morecambe by some grand regeneration projects such as the new Grand Pier which only opened last month (October 2010) after a fire destroyed the old one. Other highlights include the Winter Gardens but also for Motocross enthusiasts with the famous Weston-Super-Mare Enduro beach race which is held every autumn.

 

The local club of Weston-Super-Mare FC have actually hauled themselves up to the Blue Square South which is Level 6 of the Football Pyramid. Quite impressive for a club that rarely gets over 250 in attendance for its home games. They were lucky enough to finish 10th in their first season in the Southern Premier Division and earn a spot in the newly formed Conference South in 2004. They have actually finished in the relegation places more than once but due to other club’s problems such as Farnborough Town going bust or Cambridge City failing a ground inspection, they lived to fight another day in the Blue Square South. Weston SM actually finished 21st out of 22 last season but due to a monster number of teams hitting the shitter, they were reprieved, again. This time out they seem determined to stay up on merit as they went into this FA Trophy game in 9th place in the league, a whole 12 points clear of the final relegation place occupied currently by St Albans City.

Their Woodspring Stadium ground is a fairly recent build having opened in 2004 after they moved a short distance from Woodspring Park. It boasts (see above) a mightily impressive covered terrace situated behind one of the goals. It reminded me on Morecambe’s old North Terrace at their now defunct Christie Park. Behind the other goal was a flat standing area that had (in comparison to what was opposite it) a crappy piece of cover sponsored by cider firm Bulmers. A small seated stand runs down part of one side of the pitch while the dugout side of the ground is hard, uncovered standing. For the final round of FA Trophy qualifying, Weston had to get past fellow Blue Square South side Dorchester Town who are actually Weston’s closest rivals in this league as 19 of the sides play in the South-East of the country. They were in 12th, but only 3 points behind Weston so a tight game looked likely. As their Avenue Stadium ground is around 90 miles from my house, it could be a 2011 trip to Dorchester but a hit-list will be released in late December about that!

With two evenly matched teams and a tie against a possible Conference side in the 1st Round, the match was expectedly tight as it kicked-off and I was just delighted to have not paid the full £10 to watch the ball in the air for the 1st 10 minutes of the match. Dorchester were the slightly better side early on, helped by the fact that Weston could not really complete a passing move and their speedy striker Sahr Kabba was looking quite isolated upfront. Their poor passing was amplified on 13 minutes when an awful clearance from defence found Dorchester’s Danny Ings who ran at the Weston defence and slipped a great ball into Steve Devlin who lofted the ball over the diving Lloyd Irish to give the away side the lead. The rest of the half was pretty much a non-event as Dorchester didn’t really create that many chances while when Weston actually attacked, the final ball was so poor that Dorchester goalie Simon Evans was not tested. 0-1 at HT.

As it was absolutely freezing I had my first bovril of the season (although the lady did ask if I want pepper in it – eh!?) and moved around from the seated stand to the large stand behind the goal for a great view. The game was plodding along nicely, until 50 minutes when an innocuous challenge caused a Dorchester player to hit the deck. Simon Gilbert was blamed for a jump which caused the away player to be floored and while the referee was going to let the game play on, once the Dorchester players surrounded the ref however he was very quick to get his yellow card out and send Gilbert off for his 2nd bookable offense. (I cannot remember his first yellow at all). This added some spice to the game as Dorchester began to push forward with a man advantage and break up rare Weston attacks with some brutal challenges. Dorchester added a 2nd on 71 minutes when Danny Ings cracked in a shot from the edge of the area that just beat Irish at his near post. The Weston goalie really should have done better, but had just made a great triple save previously to that which kept his side in the match. Then on 78 minutes came the funniest moment I have encountered this season. When Weston won a free kick on the edge of the Dorchester area, Evans was barking repeatedly “NEIL! NEIL! NEIL!” for defender Neil Martin to get into a better position defensively. The Weston fans heard this and so the 30+ fans in the stand began shouting “NEIL!” too which was made even better as when the Weston freekick came in, Ryan Moss got in front of NEIL and headed the ball over Evans and into his own net. NEIL got a huge cheer as if the ball had ended up at him, he would have cleared it away. Dorchester though got the killer 3rd when a throughball put Moss through and he fired into the top corner to send the Dorset club into the 1st Round. NEIL even came over to goad the Weston fans – shit banter.

Really enjoyed this trip, as after the game I had a couple of hours spare to walk around WSM and it really does look a decent place. Also loved the new Grand Pier and would have spent more time in there if I had it (and money!) WSM are a great little club who have done extremely well to stay where they are with the crowds they get. They aren’t helped being close to the two Bristol FL clubs which must have an impact on attendances. Although Dorchester at times played good football, I really wasn’t impressed with their gobby attitude as it was all a bit Hungerford Town for me. Although, this could have just been a one off, so will give them the benefit of the doubt until I see them next. They have been given a kind draw in the 1st Round as they will play Blue Square South strugglers St Albans City at home where they should make it through. Good luck to them!

Photos from Weston-Super-Mare vs Dorchester Town

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Match Ratings:

- Match: 7/10 (saved by the 2nd half)

- Value for money: 5/10 (I’m thankful I got away with student prices)

- Ground: 6.5/10 (decent, modern ground)

- Atmosphere: 7/10 (was reasonably good for only 184 people)

- Food: 5/10 (pricey, but served with a smile and tasted nice)

- Programme: 4/10 (not worth £2)

- Referee: Kevin Morris – 4/10 (liked the sound of his own whistle and voice)

 

Dawlish Town vs Bodmin Town (13/11/10)

Match 96

Ground #: 63

Ground: Sandy Lane

Competition: FA Vase 2nd Round

Kick Off: 3:00pm

Cost: £5

Programme: £1

Attendance: 81

Dawlish Town 0

Bodmin Town 2

Matthews 56’, Luxton 70’ 

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Maybe because I’m a nutter, but I fancied a trip to the seaside. I hardly went in the summer months (if at all) when the weather was great and so I had planned this game for a fair while as Western League vs SWP League games are always intriguing and this was hopefully no exception. Despite it being monsoon weather in the week leading up to the game, on the Saturday morning it was bright and sunny and so I let the “train take the strain” and headed towards Dawlish.

Dawlish is a small seaside resort in South Devon which has grown from humble beginnings as a fishing port to one of the more popular destinations on the English Riviera. Part of this growth is down to Victorian “celebrities” using Dawlish as a place to stay such as Charles Dickens and Jane Austin. In fact, Nicholas Nickleby was said to be born here in Dickens’ novel about him. Today, Dawlish is only really known for its beach and the Riviera Line which runs through (and stops at) Dawlish which is located right next to the coast. It costs National Rail millions to upkeep this part of the line as the tide batters it everyday and so sea erosion is a major problem. There is also a small resort further North up the coast called Dawlish Warren which is situated at the mouth of the Exe Estuary and is caravan heaven.

The town’s major football team (Dawlish United actually play a couple of minutes up the road on a basic pitch) are the most Southern team in the Western League based deep in SWP League territory. In fact they are running low on local league rivals with only Willand Rovers and Wellington (and to a certain extent Barnstaple and Ilfracombe) close by. Dawlish Town’s recent history has all been in the Western League when they joined in 1973-74 and have stayed there since. During the late 80’s they also played some glamorous friendly matches against QPR, Aberdeen and Chelsea who all visited Sandy Lane. In 2004 they were dealt a massive blow when their old wooden stand was burnt down by fire and had to be replaced by the arena-type as shown in the picture above on the left. They have had recent good seasons in the Western Premier finishing 2nd in 2007/08 and 3rd the next season. After a 10th place finish last time out, they were going into this game 12th in the league (out of 19), although they were a whole 16 points ahead of bottom club Wellington who look good to be playing Western Division 1 football next season.

 

In terms of Western League grounds I’d been to, Sandy Lane was a fairly basic ground with a covered standing area and the arena-type stand on one side of the pitch which is where the entrance was too. The rest of the ground was uncovered hard standing all the way round which was railed off by nice wooden posts which blended into the ground. Behind the dugouts on that side was a raised area and grass banking that probably provided some excellent views, however after the recent weather, I didn’t fancy standing on them. The visitors for this game were one of the SWP League’s brightest teams in Bodmin Town. Despite not winning the Premier Division last season (that honour went to Buckland Athletic) they are still seen as a very good team who should probably be playing higher than they should. Bodmin is fairly near to me and so will maybe get a visit soon. They had entered this competition at the 2nd Qualifying Round and already dispatched of Launceston and Sherborne to get to Round 2, whereas Dawlish were entering at this stage.

The game kicked off and Bodmin showed their intent straight away as they launched a long ball down the right for one of their speedy wingers to pick up and whip a good cross in but it was cleared. The game was still open and 11 minutes in Dawlish should have scored when the away side’s offside trap was brutally sliced open but the Bodmin goalie Kevin Miller saved well. While this was a Devon vs Cornwall grudge match, the spicy tackles had been few and far between until the 27th minute. When Bodmin’s Chris Luxton flew into a shocking two footed tackle on a Dawlish player, the home player lashed out by kicking Luxton in the face it appeared. Unsurprisingly the caused a mass brawl and when the referee stepped in, he handed out only a yellow card to each of the offenders. The Bodmin Town boss went absolutely ballistic at this and was lucky not be sent off, as he clearly had overlooked the fact that Luxton was still lucky to be on the pitch following the awful challenge. Dawlish had another 1 on 1 chance at the end of the half but again were thwarted by the impressive Miller.

 

As the game went on into the 2nd half this looked like another 0-0 and a mid-week replay in Cornwall. On 51 minutes, the ref made a double poor decision as Luxton controlled a ball in the box with his hand before being brought down which looked a clear penalty but neither offense was given as Bodmin began to turn the screw. We finally had a goal though on 56 minutes when a Bodmin corner was not cleared and the ball fell to Sam Matthews about 3 yards out and he fired in to give the away side the lead. From this point onwards Dawlish never looked like scoring and it was no surprise when Bodmin got their 2nd when it was Dawlish’s turn to play the piss-poor offside trap and a long ball sent Luxton through and he had a moment of absolute brilliance as he lofted the ball over the advancing keeper nonchalantly to all but guarantee Bodmin’s place in the 3rd Round. While Dawlish huffed and puffted, Matthews nearly got a 3rd for Bodmin but his close range effort was fantastically saved by Fisher in the home net. At full-time it was a deserved win for Bodmin and they march on.

  

A great day out in this sea-side town as I saw a decent match as well! Bodmin Town will travel to fellow SWP League side Plymouth Parkway in the 3rd Round which looks to be a cracking tie. Dawlish can now concentrate on the league although it looks quite certain they’ll just be floating around in mid-table now for the remainder of 2010/11. One final note, the Western League has room for more teams and clearly needs some new blood. Whoever does win the SWP Premier this season, I really hope they make the step up as this performance showed that they could easily perform against teams at this level and West Country football would improve as a result of it!

Photos from Dawlish Town vs Bodmin Town

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Match Ratings:

- Match: 6.5/10 (good to watch)

- Value for money: 6/10 (norm)

- Ground: 6/10 (nice and set in a good place)

- Atmosphere: 6/10 (Bodmin brought a decent number)

- Food: 2/10 (crap pasty that fell apart before I even took a bite, cost £2)

- Programme: 4/10 (not worth £1)

- Referee: M.Derrien – 4.5/10 (happy to book for dissent, but not for actual fouls)

 

Road to Wembley 2010/11 (1st Round)

Sometimes you just get lucky in the games you pick and follow all the way through the rounds. A lucky fairy tale was what I was hoping for to follow when I picked Elmore vs Hamworthy way back in August. Now November, the plucky bunch of Swindon Supermarine had made it to the 1st Round Proper for the 1st time in their history and were picking up some much needed funds after nearly falling into liquidation during the summer. Their opponents were from the Conference North in Eastwood Town.

  (Eastwood – maybe he hasn’t been to the small town in Nottinghamshire clearly named after him)

Eastwood Town had not really started too well in their Conference North season and were languishing 17th out of 21 with their heads looking clearly behind them at a possible relegation battle. Away from the league, Eastwood Town had dispatched of some decent teams such as Stafford Rangers, Matlock Town and Stalybridge Celtic before meeting Swindon’s 2nd team in the 1st Round.

(Ben Wells makes it Marine 2-0 Eastwood and its dreamland time)

As you can see from the picture above Supermarine really enjoyed their time in front of a bumper crowd as the produced a decent sized shock by dispatching of Eastwood Town by 2 goals to 1. After a 15th minute opener from Ashan Holgate, Ben Wells made it 2-0 and looked good and comfortable at half-time. Yet Eastwood pulled a goal back straight after half-time from Lee Stevenson and then they battered their hosts, but they could not find a way through, just. Supermarine are now in the 2nd Round for their first time! They have a tough task as they travel to Essex to take on Colchester Utd. 4 leagues higher….

ROAD TO WEMBLEY 2010/2011:

EXTRA PRELIMINARY ROUND: Elmore 1-5 Hamworthy Utd (Horsdon Park, Att: 247)

PRELIMINARY ROUND: Hamworthy Utd 2-2 Sherborne Town (County Ground, Att: 122)

PRELIMINARY ROUND Replay: Sherborne Town 3–0 Hamworthy Utd (Raleigh Grove, Att: 154)

1ST QUALIFYING ROUND: Wimborne Town 1-3 Sherborne Town (The Cuthbury, Att: 226)

2ND QUALIFYING ROUND: Sherborne Town 1-2 Hungerford Town (Raleigh Grove, Att: 138)

3RD QUALIFYING ROUND: Swindon Supermarine 4-0 Hungerford Town (Webb’s Wood Stadium, Att: 365)

4TH QUALIFYING ROUND: Swindon Supermarine 0-0 Bath City (Webb’s Wood Stadium, Att: 551)

4TH QUALIFYING ROUND Replay: Bath City 3-4 Swindon Supermarine (Twerton Park, Att: 665)

1ST ROUND: Swindon Supermarine 2-1 Eastwood Town (Webb’s Wood Stadium, Att: 1,159)

Exeter Civil Service vs Vospers Oak Villa (06/11/10)

Match 95

Ground #: 62

Ground: Foxhayes

Competition: Devon FA Premier Cup 2nd Round

Kick Off: 2:00pm

Cost: £3

Programme: With Admission

Attendance: 48 (h/c)

Exeter Civil Service 2

Wilkes 19’, Taylor 84’

Vospers Oak Villa 1

Hoblin 4’

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It was County Cup day in Devon where various clubs right down to the bottom end of the pyramid have a crack at some decent silverware for their clubs. I decided to take in the highest Cup competition being played today and finally get to one of the closest grounds I am still yet to visit. It was off to the intriguing SWP Division 1 East vs Division 1 West tie of Exeter Civil Service vs Vospers Oak Villa.

  

This is my first blog report to come from the City of Exeter so… Exeter is the County Town of Devon and is a majorly historical City as it was founded in the early 12th century by the Romans. Its Cathedral right in the centre of the city dominates the local landscape as you can see its roof-tops for miles. It was also confirmed that Exeter is one of the Top 10 places in Britain for a business to be profitable with two large stations (St Davids and Central), an International Airport and the ending of the M5 nearby too. A large and successful University, bags of historical landmarks and monuments and the River Exe running through the city makes Exeter one of the most attractive and underrated places in the UK.

Exeter Civil Service is part of the national CSSC (Civil Service Sports Council) where employees of the Civil Service can keep fit by taking part in a variety of sports and leisure activities. As part of the Exeter Area Association, ECS have a number of teams who play in the regional areas of the football pyramid. ECS’s 1st team plays at Level 11 in the Southwest Peninsula League Division 1 East where they have been reasonably successful as they won this Division in 2008/09 but did not take promotion. (Presumably because they do not have floodlights) This season had been more of a mixed bag for ECS as in the league they sat in 7th (out of 16) in Div 1 East, yet they have played 12 games – the most in the league. Their ground Foxhayes is situated towards the rear of the Exeter CSSC complex and is a fairly basic ground, yet still feels quite enclosed due to the pitch being railed off all the way round. They also share with the cricket club so part of the ground has mesh fencing to protect the wickets.

To get to the 2nd Round, ECS had dispatched of Devon and Exeter League side Heavitree United 3-0 to get here. Their opponents from SWP Division 1 West had not even had to play a game to get into the 2nd Round as Bideford Reserves had to pull out in R1 as they could not raise a side. I am hopefully seeing Vospers play at their home ground at the end of the month as part of a “Plymouth Double” so I’ll detail more then about them, yet they went into this game in 4th (out of 16) place in Div 1 West, only 6 points behind leaders Newquay. This game looked to be a real tight one to call.

Just before kick-off, I met Phil Hiscox, the legend who runs the SWP League who was also taking in this game and he stated that he had not seen a 0-0 so far this season. Slightly concerned I would break his record after seeing a bore draw last weekend in Edinburgh, I was delighted to see Vospers take the lead on 4 minutes with the first real chance of the game. A burst forward from James Hoblin took him to the edge of the area and his low drive just crept past Nick Coles in the Civil net. A nice early goal to break my duck! Although Coles really should have saved it, but he is a tad short for a goalie. It was nearly 0-2 a few minutes later when Civil didn’t deal with a cross and it was nearly bundled but Coles made a great save with his legs. These missed chances cost Vospers dear though on 19 minutes when they gave a free kick away just outside the area. It was curled in and David Wilkes had a free header which was saved by Andy Barnes, but Wilkes smashed home the rebound to grab an equalizer. The game towards the end of the 1st half was very entertaining as both sides really went for it, but Vospers did create the better chances overall.

For the 2nd half, I moved around to the other side of the ground where the only covered area was and saw the game take a turn for the angry side as some rash tackles began to fly in as the referee let them get away with it and that in turn made the tackles worse. Vospers were the main culprits of this as the match began to turn away from them so their new tactic was to kick the shit out of the home side. One of their players mid-way through the half was lucky to still be on the pitch after a terrible tackle but only got a yellow. Civil were racking up the possession and began to create the chances too as I saw miss of the season from Harry Taylor. After some excellent work from James Humpherys down the left, his low cross found Taylor at the back post with an empty net, and he shot wide. He made up for that on 84 minutes when I had already had prepared myself for Extra-time. A great through-ball put him on goal to the right hand side and his low shot went off the other post and in to send the home side into raptures. The drama wasn’t over yet however as right on the last minute, a Vospers player went over in the box and it looked for all the World to be a penalty, except to the referee and Civil escaped with a 2-1 win.

A very good game between two hard working sides yet it was Civil Service who went through to the 3rd Round (last 16) of the competition where they face fellow SWP Div 1 East side Liverton United at their Halford Ground. I may also be seeing Vospers in a couple of weeks time in a Plymouth double, but Torquay Utd’s FA Cup home draw may just change my mind! Good luck to Civil Service in Round 3, a cracking day out.

Photos from Exeter Civil Service vs Vospers Oak Villa

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Match Ratings:

- Match: 7/10 (always entertaining)

- Value for money: 8/10 (very good)

- Ground: 5/10 (basic, but set in good surroundings)

- Atmosphere: 5/10 (not much, but fired up towards the end)

- Food: 7/10 (excellent pasty for £1.50)

- Programme: 5/10 (decent effort)

- Referee: Nicholas Chapman – 5/10 (let the game boil over around him)

Edinburgh City vs Heriot-Watt University (30/10/10)

Match 94

Ground #: 61

Ground: Meadowbank Stadium

Competition: East of Scotland Premier Division

Kick Off: 2:30pm

Cost: £2 (student)

Programme: £1

Attendance: 37 (h/c)

Edinburgh City 0

Heriot-Watt University 0

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I didn’t fancy my chances of getting to see a game in Scotland this season but when I was called up to Edinburgh I made sure I stayed over to get a game in on the Saturday! One ground I have been wanting to get to for some time is Meadowbank Stadium, now “home” to Edinburgh City and so when they had a game scheduled for the weekend I was up against Preston Athletic, I jumped at the chance to go…

…that was until SFA Cup Round 2 day when Edinburgh City were crashing out to Threave Rovers, Preston Athletic managed a credible 0-0 draw at home to Annan and so were involved in a Replay on this day. That wiped my 1st choice game out and so I was looking at Junior Cup ties in nearby Newtongrange and Linlithgow before Ed City rearranged (to my delight) a league game with Edinburgh based Uni, Heriot-Watt. Edinburgh City play at Meadowbank Stadium which is an anomaly in football grounds. Based in the North of the city, around 5 mins away from Easter Road (home of Edinburgh’s 3rd team) Meadowbank Stadium was actually host to an SFL team, in Meadowbank Thistle before they relocated to Livingston in 1995. Edinburgh City moved in here in 1996, twenty years after they reformed and have even managed to pick up a couple of old Meadowbank Thistle fans who do not want to make the trip to Livingston every week.

 

The main reason I wanted to get to a game here was because of the current awful state of the ground, plans to refurbish or even demolish the ground are in place which would be a real shame. I’m all for a gentle refurb however as the ground is showing real signs of age since it was built in 1970 for the Commonwealth Games of that year. Its capacity is 16,500, making it one of the larger grounds in Scotland (actually the 8th biggest) and is dominated by its 7,500 capacity main stand which everyone had to be in to watch this game. The view from here isn’t great, due to the two sand-pits and running track around the stadium, but I could see ok. Around the other curved areas are uncovered seating areas which you are not allowed in and they have signs nearby stating its condemned. If you imagine the Gateshead International Stadium, Meadowbank is very similar just without the care and funding that its Geordie counterpart has been given. Its a real shame, yet the council seem hellbent on selling the land, which is a concern given that (to my knowledge) they have not offered any suitable relocation for these services (Meadowbank is also home to a leisure centre, velodrome and basketball area), the great location of Meadowbank seems to have been forgotten by the City of Edinburgh council. Council of the capital city of the most obese nation in Europe.

Edinburgh City have floated around various grounds in Edinburgh before settling on here in 1996. They currently play in the East of Scotland Premier, although they have recently applied twice for Scottish League membership, in 2002 and 2008 and were rejected both times, losing out to Gretna and Annan respectively. That being said, the “pyramid system” in Scotland is finally being looked into and I think Edinburgh City would be a shoe-in into a new Division 3 should the SFL adopt this. While they still play in the East of Scotland Premier, they are a floating side who can rise and fall up the table, although they won the Premier Division title in 2005/06 but haven’t come close to repeating that since. Their visitors today were from Edinburgh’s “2nd” University in Heriot-Watt. Only becoming a University in 1966, the former School of Arts of Edinburgh is now mainly based on its Riccarton campus on the edge of the city. I am looking forward to getting to their ground as Riccarton is also home to the Hearts FC training area and so it has some top notch facilities. Both of these teams were languishing towards the bottom end of the league with Ed City in 10th (out of 12) having not won a game this season yet, but went into this match with 6 draws and 2 defeats. Heriot-Watt were rock bottom with only 4 points from their 1st 9 games as they were looking to avoid the drop to EoS Division 1 and titanic clashes with the mighty Hawick Royal Albert and Craigroyston.

The game itself was really one to forget as I even took a notebook to make lots of notes but in the end squeezing the game into 2 paragraphs which I normally do would just be pushing it. Ed City had the early running but Heriot-Watt came back strongly at the end of the 1st half and even had the ball in the net on 30 minutes but was ruled out for offside. Chris Donnelly then missed the 1st of his 2 good chances for the students moments later when he rounded the keeper, but could not finish from a tight angle. The 2nd half saw Donnelly miss an even bigger chance when Heriot-Watt countered through Lars Berger and his cross found Donnelly in the area unmarked but he skied his shot over the bar from about 5 yards out. Late on Edinburgh City did push forward for a winner and their goalie did save well from a good City move but 0-0 it finished and looked like it would finish that way from early on.

Another ground I had really wanted to see, even though the game was a dreaded 0-0. I really have not much control over my life and locations at the moment so although another trip up to Edinburgh could be on the cards sometime soon, I really couldn’t tell you when! I urge anyone to go see a game at Meadowbank, it is a strange experience, but lets be honest, this is a strange hobby we take part in!

Photos from Edinburgh City vs Heriot-Watt University

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Match Ratings:

- Match: 4/10 (dull)

- Value for money: 9/10 (ok, I’m not a student! £2 is good though)

- Ground: 7/10 (I like it, a refurb programme would do it wonders)

- Atmosphere: 2/10 (37 fans in a 16,000 stadium…)

- Food: 2/10 (didn’t do hot food from what I could see, hot drinks there though)

- Programme: 7.5/10 (excellent black and white effort)

- Referee: Paul Hanlon – 6/10 (quite fussy, cracked down on dissent well though)