At last another Hearts game. After a busy morning I sat down after lunch to watch the Edinburgh v Munster rugby match from Murrayfield on BT Sport. While I enjoy watching rugby internationals on TV I am afraid that club rugby does not have the same appeal. I gave up on the match at around 14.05 and walked down to Tynecastle. After buying a coffee I head for my seat in the stand arriving around 14.35. Eric was already in his seat next to me and I remarked that he was early this week. He had been having a beer in the Club 1874 bar at the ground but the bar closes at at 14.15 so he had moved into the stadium. We had a chat about recent games and agreed that the standard of football had be awful, putting it politely, but hoped today match would show an improvement. This was an important game for Hearts as a win today would guarantee a place in the top six, leading to higher gates for matches after the cut-off and additionally a win would also allow Hearts of leap-frog Hibs who had m

Another trip out to Penicuik for tonights East of Scotland league match. Penicuik are top of the table in Conference 'A' while their local rivals are tenth in the table. I left home at just before 18.00, having watched the end of Pointless, to catch a bus out to Penicuik. At the bus stop I found out the 47 was due in eleven minutes and the X15 in fifteen. The quiet at the stop was then shattered when around 35 school children arrived along with two teachers. It looked they were foreign students on an exchange visit and my heart sank when the two teachers started looking for buses to Cameron Toll, which is on the 47 route to Penicuik, on the timetable list. A 300 arrived at the stop and I jumped on that to avoid being on a bus as a crowd of noisy kids. This proved to be a good move as I got of the 300 at Newington and boarded an X37 to Penicuik. I arrived in Penicuik at 19.05 and got off the bus at Tesco to walk to the ground. Arrived at 19.15 and met Jim in the ground. The

T his was the biggest game of the day in Scotland. A top of the table clash between City, second in the league, and Peterhead who are leaders. City needed a win to cut the gap at the top and give them a chance of winning the league, thus avoiding the play-offs. Left the house at around 13.30 to walk to Ainslie Park and arrived at the ground around 14.20. Had to queue to get in which was a first at an Edinburgh City game. Jim arrived just before 14.30 and managed to get one of the last programmes on sale. Malcolm arrived ten minutes later and we chatted about football as the crowd drifted in. Ten minutes before the scheduled kick-off Malcolm and I wandered into the stand an got a couple of seats, albeit among the Peterhead supporters. Jim was waiting for a Brazilian friend and the friends father. I found out later that they has not arrived until 15.05 and by that time the stand was full. The kick-off was delayed for ten minutes to allow the crowd into the stadium. The crowd was l

I had been looking forward to this game ever since it was announced. I have  a Spartans season ticket and also go and watch Penicuik when I can so have divided loyalties. The game was a semi-final in the Football Nations Cup and promised to be a close affair. I left the house at 18.30 and walked to Ainslie Park arriving around 19.20. While I was having my coffee in the cafe/bar Jim arrived and we discussed Scotland's performance in the previous afternoons European Nations Cup qualifier against Kazakhstan. The 3-0 defeat leaves Scotland with a mountain to climb to qualify although they have the safety net of a guaranteed play-ff spot after winning their Nations League group last year. We left the cafe about five minutes before kick-off and headed for the grass area between the dugouts opposite the stand.  The match started slowly and Penicuik’s Wayne McIntosh had the first attempt on goal when he cut into the penalty area on the left hand side. His shot however was straight

After a frustrating weekend I was looking forward to going to a game again. On Saturday I had intended to go and watch Bonnyrigg v Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale as if Bonnyrigg gained a point they would have clinched the championship of their East of Scotland League Conference. However after overnight snow and rain the match was called off, as where all other minor league matches in and around Edinburgh. I did think about heading to Hamilton for the Hearts game but after the last few performances I did not fancy another afternoon of sterile football. That left Hibs at Easter Road but I was not keen on paying to watch Hibs v Motherwell. I there spend a football-less  day although I was cheered up by the Scotland performance against England in the rugby where a second half comeback resulted in a 38-38 draw. Malcolm texted me and asked if I was going out to the Oriam tonight for Heriot Watt University v Jeanfield Swifts and I did not need to be asked twice. Caught a 35 bus just after

This was the replay of last Monday’s Scottish Cup tie with a semi-final against Inverness Caledonian Thistle awaiting the winners. The other semi-final will feature Celtic against the winners of tonight’s other replay between Rangers and Aberdeen. I waited for a gap between showers of rain and left the house at just after 19.00 to walk down to Tynecastle. Despite the rain having stopped, for a short time, it was still cold and I went for a coffee before taking my seat in the stand. Hearts normally produce an excellent match programme but today issued a smaller cut-price version, presumably because the match was only confirmed after last weeks drawn first game. It was therefore disappointing to find three photos wrongly captioned and in addition an article stated Hearts played three matches against Morton in the 1976 cup quarterfinal when in fact the games were against Montrose. I know because I was at all three! Hearts made three changes from the starting line-up against Dundee

I don't know why but I bought a ticket for this match while I was on holiday in Agadir. After being at Firhill for the Scottish cup-tie on Monday night I was already regretting my decision and my apprehension proved to be correct. I investigated travelling to Dundee by Megabus in an effort to save money but the journey takes ninety minutes to I decided to go by train. I spent £28.60 for a return ticket and as the train to Dundee was heading on to Aberdeen I decided too book my seat for the outward journey. I left the house at 12.10 to catch the 12.35 train from Haymarket. At the station I met David, who I knew from my working days, and we had a chat about Hearts, sharing our concerns about the current side. When the train came in I asked the guard which one was coach B as I had booked my seat. He replied that there were no bookings on this service so I just had to grab the nearest available seat. With the train going on to Aberdeen there was only a stop at Leuchars before Dundee

Friday night football for Spartans as Edinburgh City at home tomorrow at Ainslie Park. As weather was not great decided to take bus to the game and arrived at the ground at 19.20 for the 19.45 kickoff. I had just bought my coffee and a sausage roll and sat down the cafe/ bar when Jim arrived. He had been on a long weekend break in Italy and managed to get to several games while he was there. He had several amusing tales about his trip including being told by a security guard to delete a photo he had taken at the Verona stadium. We went outside for the kick-off and took up a position between the two dugouts opposite the stand. It looked to be a good game in prospect. Spartans were on their usual lines although it was surprising to see that David Greenhill was on the bench. As always for Spartans players numbers did not give a clue to their positions. Fullbacks Mikey Herd and Gary Cennerazzo wore ten and eleven, while midfielders Jamie Dishington and Scott Maxwell lined up as nu

I had texted Malcolm about this game and he was keen to go along. He and his partner were child-minding until 18.30 and we arranged to meet in the ground around 19.30. I found out in the morning that Hearts reserves were playing Patrick Thistle at the Oriam in the afternoon. I was however unable to go as I had to stay in as Scottish Gas were coming to service our boiler between 12.00 and 18.00. They arrived at 13.20 and left twenty-five minutes later but by hat time it was too late to get out to the Oriam in time for kick-off. I was gutted when I found out later that Hearts had won 9-1! I left the house 18.20 to walk to Ainslie Park and arrived at the ground an hour later. Malcolm had arrived five minutes before me and we moved to seats in the stand near the halfway line.  This was an important game for City who had lead the League 2 table for most of the season. However their form has shaded since the turn of the year and defeat last Saturday had left then in third place althou

Scottish Cup quarter-Final day but with typical SFA disregard for fans the game is being staged on a Monday evening with a 19.05 kick-off time to suit television scheduling. The earlier than normal kick-off will mean Hearts fans travelling to Glasgow will be caught in rush hour traffic in both Edinburgh and Glasgow and any fans leaving work at 17.00 will be struggling to arrive in time for the start of the game. As I no longer work the kick-off time should not have been a great inconvenience but to go by train would mean that travel will be at peak times, unless I wanted to arrive in Glasgow two hours before kick-off, with a subsequent increase in the fare. I decided to take advantage of my concessionary bus pass and caught the 16.00 Megabus to Glasgow arriving at 17.50 with a fare of £1.  A short subway journey, after I worked out where to find the nearest station, followed by a half mile walk meant I arrived at the ground at 18.30. It was disappointing on arriving at the groun