2nd January 2018 Edinburgh City v Berwick Rangers 3-0
Saturday had been a no football day. I did not fancy the trip to Aberdeen for the Hearts game. However by drawing 0-0 Hearts set a new club record of six league games in a row without conceding a goal. I had thought about going to the Whitehall Welfare v Spartans game at Roswell but after seeing pictures of the pitch on Twitter the previous night suspected it would be unplayable and it was called off after a 9.30 inspection on the Saturday. Then I considered going to Edinburgh City v Clyde at Ainslie Park but that was called off due to a frozen pitch. The City Twitter account said - 'the pitch maintenance suppliers do not recommend putting salt down and the manual removal of ice and snow will result in the removal of rubber pellets and damage the integrity of the pitch fibres'. So much for plastic pitches meaning games will be played despite adverse weather conditions !
However there was a full programme of SPFL fixtures on 2nd January despite this no longer being a Bank Holiday in Scotland. With no SPL games I went to watch Edinburgh City v Berwick. Walked to Ainslie Park and arrived around 14.40 for a warming cup of coffee. City had signed Pat Scullion who had been released by Berwick and he came into the side at centre-back. Berwick had two Hearts players on development loans in their side, Andrew Irving, whose father had played for Edinburgh City, and Portuguese/Canadian fullback Marcus Godinho.
Before the game I spoke to one of the City directors, Gordon who used to work at RBS. I knew Gordon when I worked there and was surprised when he told me he had now been away for RBS for ten years. He is another person who seems to be enjoying no longer have to be a wage slave.
The game started with Berwick having all the pressure and Calum Antell in the City goal made a couple of good early saves. Michael McKenna of Berwick had a great chance when he was played in after some good passing by Berwick but he fired his shot across Antell and past the far post. City had only had one deflected shot at goal in the first twenty minutes although this changed when Josh Walker hit a lovely disguised pass to Ashley Grimes in the Berwick box. Grimes flicked the ball past a Berwick defender and then shot low into the net to give City an undeserved lead. Scullion was booed by the Berwick fans every time he touched the ball but I thought he brought a touch of composure to the City defence. Given the crowd was announced as only 437 the booing was not that intimidating.
In the second half Berwick continued to press forward and McKenna had a shot which beat Antell in the City goal but was cleared of the line by Jesus Garcia Tena. Berwick brought on former Spartans striker Aaron Murrell in a bid for an equaliser but City continued to hold out with former Hearts striker Craig Beattie looking good in his new role at centre half. With about fifteen minutes to go a long ball from defence was misjudged by Berwick defender Kevin McKinlay. Scott Shepherd latched onto the ball and round keeper Robbie McCrorie to put the ball into an empty net and give City a 2-0 lead. Minutes later another long ball found Shepherd running into space beyond the Berwick defenders. McCrorie came out of his goal to attempt to block his shot but Shepherd fired the ball through the keepers legs to give City a 3-0 lead. City held out to gain their first league win since 16th September. With Cowdenbeath only managing a draw at Montrose City moved a further two points ahead of the Fifers at the foot of the league.
I walked up to Ferry Road and for once managed to catch a 27 bus home after seeing a really good game and the first time I have seen City win this season.
Teams
Before the game I spoke to one of the City directors, Gordon who used to work at RBS. I knew Gordon when I worked there and was surprised when he told me he had now been away for RBS for ten years. He is another person who seems to be enjoying no longer have to be a wage slave.
The game started with Berwick having all the pressure and Calum Antell in the City goal made a couple of good early saves. Michael McKenna of Berwick had a great chance when he was played in after some good passing by Berwick but he fired his shot across Antell and past the far post. City had only had one deflected shot at goal in the first twenty minutes although this changed when Josh Walker hit a lovely disguised pass to Ashley Grimes in the Berwick box. Grimes flicked the ball past a Berwick defender and then shot low into the net to give City an undeserved lead. Scullion was booed by the Berwick fans every time he touched the ball but I thought he brought a touch of composure to the City defence. Given the crowd was announced as only 437 the booing was not that intimidating.
In the second half Berwick continued to press forward and McKenna had a shot which beat Antell in the City goal but was cleared of the line by Jesus Garcia Tena. Berwick brought on former Spartans striker Aaron Murrell in a bid for an equaliser but City continued to hold out with former Hearts striker Craig Beattie looking good in his new role at centre half. With about fifteen minutes to go a long ball from defence was misjudged by Berwick defender Kevin McKinlay. Scott Shepherd latched onto the ball and round keeper Robbie McCrorie to put the ball into an empty net and give City a 2-0 lead. Minutes later another long ball found Shepherd running into space beyond the Berwick defenders. McCrorie came out of his goal to attempt to block his shot but Shepherd fired the ball through the keepers legs to give City a 3-0 lead. City held out to gain their first league win since 16th September. With Cowdenbeath only managing a draw at Montrose City moved a further two points ahead of the Fifers at the foot of the league.
I walked up to Ferry Road and for once managed to catch a 27 bus home after seeing a really good game and the first time I have seen City win this season.
Teams
Edinburgh City: Antell, McKee, Garcia Tena, Beattie, Hall, Shepherd , Walker, Laird, Grimes, Scullion, El Alagui.
Subs; Harrison, Watson, Donnelly-Kay
Subs; Harrison, Watson, Donnelly-Kay
Berwick Rangers: McCrorie, Notman, McKinlay, Fairbairn, Lavery, McKenna, Irving, Stewart, Wilson, McDonald, Godinho.
Subs: Murrell, Thomson
Subs: Murrell, Thomson
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