26th March 2019. Penicuik Athletic v Peebles Rovers 3-0
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 teabar was not open when I arrived as water had not boiled for the tea and coffee although it opened five minutes later. After buying our hot drinks we took up position in the covered area near the halfway line.
Penicuik made a few changes after Friday's cup defeat to Spartans. It was surprising to see top scorer Wayne McIntosh on the bench but with the number of matches coming along in quick succession it made sense to operate an element of squad rotation. Penicuik also included goalkeeper Robert Watt, recently signed from Tynecastle. I had not seen Peebles before and the players names did not ring any bells in my memory. Peebles however must not have been looking forward to the game have already been defeated 6-2, 5-0 and 5-0 to Penicuik this season. The first two matches were held at Peebles' Whitestone park while the first and third games had been in cup competitions. This league fixture was originally postponed back in October and rescheduled game set for two weeks ago on 12th March. As a consequence Penicuik issued the programme for the earlier fixture in March with an insert to update on events in the last fortnight including a report of Friday's game with Spartans.
The game almost started with a bang. Straight from the kick-off Craig Stevenson hit a low ball into the Peebles half. Kyle Sampson chased the ball as keeper Tony Kerr dived for it at the edge of his penalty area. Kerr got a touch to take the ball away from Sampson’s feet and then dived to clutch the loose ball. Sampson fell and there were half-hearted claims for a penalty but the referee was not interested. After applying a lot of pressure Penicuik took the lead in ten minutes. A free-kick by Ryan Baptie on the left was heading back across goal by Darrell Young to the unmarked Dean Crabbe. Crabbe, the son of former Hearts star Scott Crabbe, was standing inside the six yard area and had an easy chance to toe-poke the ball into the net. The second goal came just after twenty five minutes when Craig Stevenson hit a low corner towards the near post area around twelve yards out. Sam Jones timed his run into the box well and hit a low shot through a crowd of players into the net. After thirty minutes Penicuik were awarded a penalty after Jones was clattered in an arial challenge by centre-half Lee Zavaroni. Jones took the kick himself but, like McIntosh in the shoot-out against Spartans on Friday night, his attempt against the bar. Things got worse for Peebles after thirty-one minutes when Callum MacKenzie took out Jones on the left touchline with a kick to the head. This started what Arthur Montford used to call ‘a stramash’ with players and coaching staff becoming involved in pushing and shouting. After MacKenzie received a red card, despite the Rovers Facebook page claiming it was an ‘accidental’ kick to the head, the Peebles manager continued remonstrating to the referee and he followed his player to the changing rooms after ‘discussion’ with the referee. While I said 'followed his player' in reality he had to walk round the terracing although rather than walking through the covered area which was full of Penicuik supporters, he must have nipped out of the gate behind the goal and re-entered the ground at the gate nearest the dressing rooms. Penicuik continued to press forward and Kyle Sampson looked prominent as replacement for the ‘benched’ Macintosh.
The second half continued in the same fashion and Penicuik got a third goal after fifty-three minutes. Baptie took a short corner to the onrushing Stevenson who cross into the penalty box. Young was standing about ten yards from goal almost in line with the near post. He flicked a header across goal and into the far corner to put the match well beyond Peebles’ reach. Minutes later Gregor Lamb became the second Peebles player to receive a red card after committing a foul just inside his half. As he moved back towards his defensive position the referee showed him the card leaving Peebles with nine men for the remainder of the game. Penicuik continued to press forward and hit both posts with Aaron Ponton linking well with Baptie on the left to cause problems for the depleted Peebles side. Despite the numerical handicap Peebles actually looked a better side in the second half and Young of Penicuik was booked for taking out striker Greg Kerr as he attempted a break. As the game headed towards full-time Peebles defender Zavaroni had a fantastic clearance over his own bar from a cross by Baptie. I am not sure if he meant it but any lower and it would have been an own goal. The 3-0 victory consolidated Penicuik’s position at the top of the table and they now retained their five point lead over second placed Hill of Beath Hawthorn.
After the game Jim gave me a lift back to Tollcross and I got home in time to take the dog for his last walk of the day.
Teams
Penicuik: Watt, Stevenson, Baptie, Connolly (c), Young, McCrory-Irving, Caddow, Crabbe, Sampson, Jones, Ponton
Subs: McIntosh, Sproule, Williams.
Peebles: Kerr, MacKenzie, Zavaroni (c), G Lamb, Gettle, Smith, McEwan, R Lamb, Trialist (Greg Kerr), McMath, Lindsay
Subs: Sclater, Davidson, Dodds
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Penicuik made a few changes after Friday's cup defeat to Spartans. It was surprising to see top scorer Wayne McIntosh on the bench but with the number of matches coming along in quick succession it made sense to operate an element of squad rotation. Penicuik also included goalkeeper Robert Watt, recently signed from Tynecastle. I had not seen Peebles before and the players names did not ring any bells in my memory. Peebles however must not have been looking forward to the game have already been defeated 6-2, 5-0 and 5-0 to Penicuik this season. The first two matches were held at Peebles' Whitestone park while the first and third games had been in cup competitions. This league fixture was originally postponed back in October and rescheduled game set for two weeks ago on 12th March. As a consequence Penicuik issued the programme for the earlier fixture in March with an insert to update on events in the last fortnight including a report of Friday's game with Spartans.
The game almost started with a bang. Straight from the kick-off Craig Stevenson hit a low ball into the Peebles half. Kyle Sampson chased the ball as keeper Tony Kerr dived for it at the edge of his penalty area. Kerr got a touch to take the ball away from Sampson’s feet and then dived to clutch the loose ball. Sampson fell and there were half-hearted claims for a penalty but the referee was not interested. After applying a lot of pressure Penicuik took the lead in ten minutes. A free-kick by Ryan Baptie on the left was heading back across goal by Darrell Young to the unmarked Dean Crabbe. Crabbe, the son of former Hearts star Scott Crabbe, was standing inside the six yard area and had an easy chance to toe-poke the ball into the net. The second goal came just after twenty five minutes when Craig Stevenson hit a low corner towards the near post area around twelve yards out. Sam Jones timed his run into the box well and hit a low shot through a crowd of players into the net. After thirty minutes Penicuik were awarded a penalty after Jones was clattered in an arial challenge by centre-half Lee Zavaroni. Jones took the kick himself but, like McIntosh in the shoot-out against Spartans on Friday night, his attempt against the bar. Things got worse for Peebles after thirty-one minutes when Callum MacKenzie took out Jones on the left touchline with a kick to the head. This started what Arthur Montford used to call ‘a stramash’ with players and coaching staff becoming involved in pushing and shouting. After MacKenzie received a red card, despite the Rovers Facebook page claiming it was an ‘accidental’ kick to the head, the Peebles manager continued remonstrating to the referee and he followed his player to the changing rooms after ‘discussion’ with the referee. While I said 'followed his player' in reality he had to walk round the terracing although rather than walking through the covered area which was full of Penicuik supporters, he must have nipped out of the gate behind the goal and re-entered the ground at the gate nearest the dressing rooms. Penicuik continued to press forward and Kyle Sampson looked prominent as replacement for the ‘benched’ Macintosh.
The second half continued in the same fashion and Penicuik got a third goal after fifty-three minutes. Baptie took a short corner to the onrushing Stevenson who cross into the penalty box. Young was standing about ten yards from goal almost in line with the near post. He flicked a header across goal and into the far corner to put the match well beyond Peebles’ reach. Minutes later Gregor Lamb became the second Peebles player to receive a red card after committing a foul just inside his half. As he moved back towards his defensive position the referee showed him the card leaving Peebles with nine men for the remainder of the game. Penicuik continued to press forward and hit both posts with Aaron Ponton linking well with Baptie on the left to cause problems for the depleted Peebles side. Despite the numerical handicap Peebles actually looked a better side in the second half and Young of Penicuik was booked for taking out striker Greg Kerr as he attempted a break. As the game headed towards full-time Peebles defender Zavaroni had a fantastic clearance over his own bar from a cross by Baptie. I am not sure if he meant it but any lower and it would have been an own goal. The 3-0 victory consolidated Penicuik’s position at the top of the table and they now retained their five point lead over second placed Hill of Beath Hawthorn.
After the game Jim gave me a lift back to Tollcross and I got home in time to take the dog for his last walk of the day.
Teams
Penicuik: Watt, Stevenson, Baptie, Connolly (c), Young, McCrory-Irving, Caddow, Crabbe, Sampson, Jones, Ponton
Subs: McIntosh, Sproule, Williams.
Peebles: Kerr, MacKenzie, Zavaroni (c), G Lamb, Gettle, Smith, McEwan, R Lamb, Trialist (Greg Kerr), McMath, Lindsay
Subs: Sclater, Davidson, Dodds
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