25th August 2018 Penicuik Athletic v Coldstream 4-2

Was not sure where to go today as I could not work up enthusiasm to go to Kilmarnock to watch Hearts. Thought about going to Edinburgh Uni v Gala Fairydean in Lowland League but finally decided to go to Penicuik for their East of Scotland League clash against Coldstream. The Junior sides that have moved up to the EoS League have given good performances thus far and I was expecting a few goals. Caught a 47 bus in Lothian Road and arrived at ground around 14.00. £6 admission charge, although I was asked if I was a concession and could have got in for £3, and £1.50 for a very good programme by non-league standards. Penicuik centre forward Wayne McIntosh was out due to injury and he was replaced by Nico Salazar. Salazar was previously on books at West Ham and signed for Penicuik in the close season. He certainly looks a better player than the last ex-West Ham centre forward I saw, Paul McCallum who had a spell on loan at Hearts five or so years ago. 

Penicuik started on the attack but did not make any clear cut chances and Mark Walters (no not the ex-Rangers player) in the Coldstream goal had little to do. With their first attack Coldtream scored after twenty minutes when they forced a corner on the right hand side. The ball was played to the near post into a crowd of players and somehow ended up in the back of the net. My initial thought was it was an own goal by Penicuik keeper Thomas Cordery. The Coldstream website however gave the goal to their Phil Bright, the Penicuik website just said the ball ended up in the net from the corner and Edinburgh Evening News said Matt Corfields corner went straight in. However judging by Cordery's anger at his defence he felt it was a defensive lapse that had allowed the ball to hit the back of the net. Cordery grabbed the ball from the back of the net and booted it high into the air towards the centre circle in frustration. Penicuik equalised three minutes later when Arran Ponton playing at left back today, rather than left winger, cut the ball back from the byeline to Salazar. The forward side stepped a defender and rolled the ball into the net from around twelve yards. Penicuik went ahead ten minutes before half time when after another move down the left a shot from Wayne Sproule came back of the keeper to Ponton. He was about eight yards out and shot the ball home. What a left back was doing in an inside right position I am not sure. 

The second half started like the first with Penicuik having the bulk of the possession but unable to create many clear chances. Coldstream continued to defend in depth and looked lively on the counter attack. Cordery in the Penicuik goal had to cut out a couple of corners however his catching was good and he held on to the ball before clearing. I was surprised that Coldstream did not try another near post corner but I suppose the Penicuik defence would be more alert if Coldstream tried that again. After seventy-five minutes the inevitable happened when Coldstream equalised. The ball came to Corfield just inside the Penicuik box on the right hand side. He took a touch and then shot across Cordery into the far corner of the net. Five minutes later Penicuik went ahead when Coldstream keeper Walters blocked a good header from Penicuik top scorer Aaron Somerville. The ball bounced out to the feet of Salazar who made no mistake from about eight yards out. As the game moved into injury time a long ball from Andy Forbes found Salazar about thirty yards out. He collected the ball and ran into the box before firing past Walters for his hat trick and clinching the game for Penicuik. as soon as the kick off was taken the referee blew for full-time. As Penicuik manager Johnny Harvey said after the game, "Relieved we got the three points when we certainly weren’t at our best'.

After the game caught a Borders Bus X62 back into Edinburgh, I  was surprised to be given a ticket when I offer my pensioners concession card to the driver, then at Newington switched to a Lothian Buses 47 and was home by 17.15. Decided it would not be diplomatic to watch Liverpool v Brighton and settled down to watch some of Natalie's recordings. after seeing the other results today I wished I had gone to Civil Service Strollers. Strollers beat Wigton 9-0 while the Edinburgh University game I had considered was a 1-0 win for Gala Fairydean.

Teams
Penicuik Athletic: Cordery, Forbes, Ponton, Hume, Williams, Jones, Sproule, Barr, Salazar, Somerville, McCrory-Irving
Subs: Connolly, Caddow, Kateleza
Coldstream; Walters, Gay, Straughan, Malcolm, Corfield, Briggs, Dixon, Bright, Lee, Harbottle, Allan.
Subs: Beasley