13th October 2017 Edinburgh City v Stenhousemuir 0-1
Hearts are playing Ross County in Dingwall tomorrow and I did not fancy the journey. It is however Scottish Cup weekend and I decided to go and watch Edinburgh City take on Stenhousemuir at Ainslie Park. I decided to be lazy and took a bus to the ground. A short walk down the hill and then into the ground. Admission charge was £12 as discount for Hearts season ticket holders does not apply for cup-ties. I met Alex and Jim and we took our seats in the stand.
City are going through a traumatic time and after their last game, a 3-0 league defeat by Stenhousemuir, manager Gary Jardine resigned. Gary had been with City since 2003 as player, coach and manager. He was appointed joint manager in 2010 and had been in sole charge since 2012. With seven years in the managers role he was the longest serving manager in the SPFL when he resigned. The City board wasted no time in bringing in his successor with James McDonaugh being appointed earlier this week. James had previously been assistant manager at Falkirk following from a spell as head of academy coaching at Hibs. This is James' first managerial appointment. In addition to the new manager Craig Beattie is now player/assistant manager and Colin Jack who was previously manager with Preston Athletic has been appointed as first team coach. With City one point ahead of bottom-placed side, Cowdenbeath, at the foot of league 2 the trio will be facing a tough job.
Edinburgh City are along familiar lines although John Dunn was sitting in the stand behind us on crutches having broken three metatarsal bones in the defeat to Stenhousemuir in the league. Stenhousemuir included Canadian Harry Paton, who is on loan from Hearts and Ruaridh Donaldson who I saw playing with Bonnyrigg Rose last season.
The first half was not much to write home about. City had a chance when Lewis Allan was put through by a long ball from Jesus Garcia Tena. However as he drew back his foot to shoot a Stenhousemuir defender managed to touch the ball away in a tackle. Calum Antell in the City goal had little to do and only had one save to make from a shot that went straight to him.
Five minutes into the second half a free-kick from the left hand side was whipped into the City penalty box where Jamie Longworth guided the ball into the net with a header towards the far post. City tried hard for an equaliser and Beattie had the ball in the net but was well offside. Surprisingly, given the fussy nature of the refereeing all night, he was not booked as he had 'scored' after the whistle had blown. Paton had a strong shot well saved by Antell and later Stenhousemuir claimed for a penalty after Mark McGuigan went down in the box after a collision with the keeper as he chased a long through ball. Stenhousemuir were now on top and Antell made a good double save from a header by Colin McMenamin and a follow-up shot from McGuigan. In injury time Craig Thomson was sent of for a second yellow card after the threw the ball away when Stenhousemuir were awarded a free-kick. Instead of heading to the dressing room he ducked under the fence and stood there to watch the remainder of the game. The referee was having none of the and instructed him to leave the field which he did by walking round the back of the stand to the dressing rooms. Official attendance was given as 268 which I thought was lower than the actual crowd number seemed.
After the game I walked along Ferry Road with Alex and caught a bus home at Inverleith, Home by 10.20 and took the dog out for his last walk of the day.
Teams
Edinburgh City: Antell, Hall, Tena, Rodger, Morrison, Blake, Thomson, Laird, Walker, Allan, Beattie.
Subs: Belmokhtar, i. Smith, Grimes
Stenhousemuir: C. Smith, Meechan, M. Dunlop, R. Dunlop, Paterson, Ferry, McGuigan, Paton, McMenamin, Longworth, Donaldson.
Subs: Ferns
Edinburgh City are along familiar lines although John Dunn was sitting in the stand behind us on crutches having broken three metatarsal bones in the defeat to Stenhousemuir in the league. Stenhousemuir included Canadian Harry Paton, who is on loan from Hearts and Ruaridh Donaldson who I saw playing with Bonnyrigg Rose last season.
The first half was not much to write home about. City had a chance when Lewis Allan was put through by a long ball from Jesus Garcia Tena. However as he drew back his foot to shoot a Stenhousemuir defender managed to touch the ball away in a tackle. Calum Antell in the City goal had little to do and only had one save to make from a shot that went straight to him.
Five minutes into the second half a free-kick from the left hand side was whipped into the City penalty box where Jamie Longworth guided the ball into the net with a header towards the far post. City tried hard for an equaliser and Beattie had the ball in the net but was well offside. Surprisingly, given the fussy nature of the refereeing all night, he was not booked as he had 'scored' after the whistle had blown. Paton had a strong shot well saved by Antell and later Stenhousemuir claimed for a penalty after Mark McGuigan went down in the box after a collision with the keeper as he chased a long through ball. Stenhousemuir were now on top and Antell made a good double save from a header by Colin McMenamin and a follow-up shot from McGuigan. In injury time Craig Thomson was sent of for a second yellow card after the threw the ball away when Stenhousemuir were awarded a free-kick. Instead of heading to the dressing room he ducked under the fence and stood there to watch the remainder of the game. The referee was having none of the and instructed him to leave the field which he did by walking round the back of the stand to the dressing rooms. Official attendance was given as 268 which I thought was lower than the actual crowd number seemed.
After the game I walked along Ferry Road with Alex and caught a bus home at Inverleith, Home by 10.20 and took the dog out for his last walk of the day.
Teams
Edinburgh City: Antell, Hall, Tena, Rodger, Morrison, Blake, Thomson, Laird, Walker, Allan, Beattie.
Subs: Belmokhtar, i. Smith, Grimes
Stenhousemuir: C. Smith, Meechan, M. Dunlop, R. Dunlop, Paterson, Ferry, McGuigan, Paton, McMenamin, Longworth, Donaldson.
Subs: Ferns
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