18th May 2019 Newtongrange Star v Tranent. 1-2
Quarter finals of the King Cup today. This is normally the last tournament of the season in East of Scotland football. With the final due on 2nd June the semi-finals are now been scheduled for 24th May in an effort to bring the competition to a conclusion. Decided to head out to Newtongrange for their tie against Tranent. Two reasons for my choice:
1) I had not been at a game in Newtongrange this season.
2) Former Hearts star Ian Black, a Scottish Cup winner in 2012, now plays for Tranent.
After lunch I walked out to Newington to catch a bus out to Newtongrange. I caught a 33 and after a circuitous journey I arrived close to the ground at 14.05 for the 14.30 kick-off. I paid £6 admission and £1 for a programme in my first visit to New Victoria Park for three years. In the ground I met my old work colleague Gwyn. Gwyn is a coach at Tynecastle Boys club and he introduced me to Ian Black snr. the father of the Tranent player. The father also had a Hearts connection as he played in the late 1970’s as a fullback. We took up a position on the fence near the goal at the entrance to the ground for the kickoff.
Newtongrange had strong side out with the majority of the players having played the previous twice I have seen Star this season. I don't think I am a good omen for Star as I have yet to see them win a match. Long-serving defender Scott Swaney was missing following a hamstring injury in last weeks third round tie against Sauchie. Star's strike force of George Hunter and Sean Jamieson are a good pairing with fifty-two goals between them this season. Full-back Ali Forster, who also plays upfront, has also scored fifteen goals. For Tranent Jamie Devlin is another good goalscorer and has scored throughout his career having previously been with Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale and Kelly Hearts. Bob Berry is also, I am told a dangerous player, although sometimes lacking in confidence to take defenders on.
The match started with Star being awarded a penalty after three minutes. Kyle Scott was taken down in the box and Jamieson stepped up to take the kick. He hit the ball well but possibly a little to hard and the diving goalkeeper "Sinky" Inglis stuck out a hand to palm the ball away. Star looked the better side early on with Jack Wilson looking good in midfield and Hunter and Jamieson breaking quickly towards the goal. Tranent came more into the game and also looked good in midfield with Black and Ben Miller looking to find the strikers although they were not as quick moving the ball forward as the home side. Despite the effort put in by both sides there were no real chances in the first half with both keepers having little to do. The bulk of the first half entertainment came from the assistant referee who was receiving some stick for some of his decisions. He was not slow to respond and after one offside replied - ' he was well off before the ball was kicked'.
Tranent went ahead after sixty-five minutes when Bradley Barrett ran onto a chip over the defence from Black. His first shot from the edge of the penalty area was pushed away by Keiron Renton in the Star goal but Barrett was first to the rebound to push the ball into the net from close range. Ryan Porteous of Star was sent off was twenty minutes to go. He was fouled by Black in a challenge on half-way and kicked out at Black while on the ground. He had already been booked for dissent and now received a second yellow card and thus a red. The Star team protested strongly and Black was given a yellow card for the original foul although Star were looking for a straight red card as punishment. Black was substituted shortly after to protect him from a further card. The refereeing was not of the highest standard and one challenge by Barrett on Forster was, in my opinion, certainly deserving of a yellow card. Play however continued and after the ball went out of play twenty yards up the field the referee pulled play back and awarded Tranent a throw-in in line with where the original tackle had taken place, not withstanding the fact that Barrett had connected with the ball after his foul on the defender. Tranent scored a second after eighty-five minutes through Gary Nelson. He beat two defenders in a run towards the byeline and fired a shot across goal from about six yards out into the far corner. I thought that Renton in the Star goal could have done better here as the shot was from a tight angle with not a lot of the goal exposed. Star were not finished and Hunter sent a low cross into the box, after a run down the right, for Jamieson to shoot past Inglis and cut the deficit. Star were pressing for another goal but Inglis was playing well, despite the comments from Star fans behind his goal. He did flap at a corner but recovered well to fall to the ground as the ball was cleared and a free-kick was given to Tranent despite there being no obvious infringement.
After the final whistle I headed for the exit but was delayed for a couple of minutes as the gates were closed to allow the players and officials back into the dressing-rooms. The Tranent players seemed quite happy as they marched off with several shouting to their fans in the crowd. Walked towards main Street to catch a bus back into Edinburgh and luckily turned the corner towards the stop just as a bus was pulling in. Jumped on an headed home although I ended up meeting Natalie and we took Harper out to a barbecue at the Wisp before heading home to watch a recording of the FA Cup final. Thankfully I had managed to avoid any information on the score before arriving back.
Newtongrange had strong side out with the majority of the players having played the previous twice I have seen Star this season. I don't think I am a good omen for Star as I have yet to see them win a match. Long-serving defender Scott Swaney was missing following a hamstring injury in last weeks third round tie against Sauchie. Star's strike force of George Hunter and Sean Jamieson are a good pairing with fifty-two goals between them this season. Full-back Ali Forster, who also plays upfront, has also scored fifteen goals. For Tranent Jamie Devlin is another good goalscorer and has scored throughout his career having previously been with Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale and Kelly Hearts. Bob Berry is also, I am told a dangerous player, although sometimes lacking in confidence to take defenders on.
The match started with Star being awarded a penalty after three minutes. Kyle Scott was taken down in the box and Jamieson stepped up to take the kick. He hit the ball well but possibly a little to hard and the diving goalkeeper "Sinky" Inglis stuck out a hand to palm the ball away. Star looked the better side early on with Jack Wilson looking good in midfield and Hunter and Jamieson breaking quickly towards the goal. Tranent came more into the game and also looked good in midfield with Black and Ben Miller looking to find the strikers although they were not as quick moving the ball forward as the home side. Despite the effort put in by both sides there were no real chances in the first half with both keepers having little to do. The bulk of the first half entertainment came from the assistant referee who was receiving some stick for some of his decisions. He was not slow to respond and after one offside replied - ' he was well off before the ball was kicked'.
Tranent went ahead after sixty-five minutes when Bradley Barrett ran onto a chip over the defence from Black. His first shot from the edge of the penalty area was pushed away by Keiron Renton in the Star goal but Barrett was first to the rebound to push the ball into the net from close range. Ryan Porteous of Star was sent off was twenty minutes to go. He was fouled by Black in a challenge on half-way and kicked out at Black while on the ground. He had already been booked for dissent and now received a second yellow card and thus a red. The Star team protested strongly and Black was given a yellow card for the original foul although Star were looking for a straight red card as punishment. Black was substituted shortly after to protect him from a further card. The refereeing was not of the highest standard and one challenge by Barrett on Forster was, in my opinion, certainly deserving of a yellow card. Play however continued and after the ball went out of play twenty yards up the field the referee pulled play back and awarded Tranent a throw-in in line with where the original tackle had taken place, not withstanding the fact that Barrett had connected with the ball after his foul on the defender. Tranent scored a second after eighty-five minutes through Gary Nelson. He beat two defenders in a run towards the byeline and fired a shot across goal from about six yards out into the far corner. I thought that Renton in the Star goal could have done better here as the shot was from a tight angle with not a lot of the goal exposed. Star were not finished and Hunter sent a low cross into the box, after a run down the right, for Jamieson to shoot past Inglis and cut the deficit. Star were pressing for another goal but Inglis was playing well, despite the comments from Star fans behind his goal. He did flap at a corner but recovered well to fall to the ground as the ball was cleared and a free-kick was given to Tranent despite there being no obvious infringement.
After the final whistle I headed for the exit but was delayed for a couple of minutes as the gates were closed to allow the players and officials back into the dressing-rooms. The Tranent players seemed quite happy as they marched off with several shouting to their fans in the crowd. Walked towards main Street to catch a bus back into Edinburgh and luckily turned the corner towards the stop just as a bus was pulling in. Jumped on an headed home although I ended up meeting Natalie and we took Harper out to a barbecue at the Wisp before heading home to watch a recording of the FA Cup final. Thankfully I had managed to avoid any information on the score before arriving back.
Teams
Newtongrange Star: Renton, Forster, Melvin, Lawson, Porteous, Lander, Thomson, Wilson, Scott, Jamieson, Hunter.
Subs: Dunsmore, Bracks.
Tranent: Inglis, Hawkins, Reid, Whitson, Mckenzie, Miller, Berry, Black, Devlin, Nelson, Barrett.
Subs: Christie
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