Scottish Cup first round and as Edinburgh City are playing Peterhead in the League on Saturday Spartans opted for a Friday night Cup tie at Ainslie Park. As I had a long walk in the afternoon I opted for catching a bus to Ainslie Park and walked along to Tollcross to catch a 27 and then a short walk to the ground from Ferry Road. My season ticket is not valid for Scottish Cup ties and I duly paid my £7 admission charge. As I was early I opted to go to the cafe/bar for a coffee and a sausage roll. Last year Spartans had reached the third round of the Scottish Cup before losing to St Mirren from the SPL Championship. Hopes are high of getting through to the third round again where the ‘big clubs’ enter the competition.  Vale of Leithen are based in Innerleithen, around 7 miles from Peebles. Like Spartans they play in the Lowland League and their home games take place at the town's Victoria Park. Vale of Leithen have not had a great start to the season and currently are 14th i

La te September and my first game this season outside an EH postcode. Craig had phoned me to say he was going with Harper (my grandson) and would let me know if he had space in the car. He phoned again last night to say car was full. I decided to get train through and caught 13.00 from Haymarket. The kick-off had been put back till 16.00 due to the Rangers v Celtic match being played earlier in the day. On way through I thought about previous trips to Firhill. My favourite was in 1974 when during the power crisis Malcolm (not the same one I have been to games with this season) and  I went through for a Scottish Cup replay. This Malcolm now stays in Houston Texas but in 1974 I met him outside his work before that game at Meadowbank at lunchtime. I was due to have been at day-release but Hearts were more important. Malcolm drove through and Hearts won 4-1 with the help of a hat-trick from Donald Ford.  When train arrived in Glasgow there were a lot of soured-faced people wearing b

After a weekend away near Dumfries I was not really wanting to go to a game this week but  felt I needed a football fix. The closest I came to football at the weekend was when I saw the Stenhousemuir team bus in Annan. Hearts had won at Hamilton on Saturday and the world was looking good. I decided to go to Easter Road to cheer on Livingston against Hibs in the BetFred cup quarter-final. I caught a number 1 bus to go to the game. The number 1 is unique  is Edinurgh as it is the only bus in Edinburgh to go past Tynecastle and Easter Road. As usual at Easter Road programme sellers were conspicuous by their absence at the away end. I bought a ticket for £20 and joined the Livingston fans at the away end. I saw Mike who I used to work with in the stand. Mike is a Livi fan and we sat together and put the world to rights throughout the game.  Hibs started the game on the attack and ex-Jambo Neil Alexander in the Livi goal made couple of good saves. However after ten minutes Livi went

After a week in Paphos at last another Hearts game. However it was the first of our three fixtures at Murrayfield and meant a slightly longer journey than going to Tynecastle. I was going to take the tram from Haymarket but just missed it and ended up taking 26 bus and walking from Roseburn. It was a bit strange going through the turnstiles and then being faced by a number of vans selling food. Not your normal Tynecastle pies but things like fish and chips and venison burgers. I had been allocated a good seat in the lower tier of the stand. This was Craig Levein’s first game in charge and he made a few changes, lining up in a 3-5-2 formation. Jon McLaughlin was preferred in goal to Jack Hamilton with Ross Callachan, signed from Raith Rovers making his debut is midfield. Ross’ uncle is Ralph Callachan who is, I think, the only player to have played for Hearts, Hibs and Meadowbank Thistle, Wonder who will be the first to play for Hearts, Hibs and Edinburgh City? In additio