16th November 2019 Broxburn Athletic v Linlithgow Rose 1-3
International break again so no SPL games scheduled for today. Not even the thought of watching Steven Naismith captaining Scotland on the occasion of his fiftieth cap could persuade me to stay at home and watch Cypus v Scotland on Sky TV. I was wanting to go to a new ground so decided to head out to Broxburn to watch the home side take on Linlithgow Rose in the East of Scotland Premier league. I left home just before 13.00 and walked down to Haymarket to catch a bus out to Broxburn. I caught an X17 at around 13.15 and arrived in Broxburn around half an hour later in plenty time for the 14.30 kick-off. I had never been to the ground before but with the aid of Google Maps found it quite easily as Albyn Park is only about a ten minute walk from the bus stop in the main road through Broxburn. Paid my £6 entry and bought a decent programme for £1.50 on entering the ground. The ground is a tidy non league set-up with three sides being grass banking and opposite the main standing area there are a couple of park benches at the top of the banking which must make a good viewing spot in better weather. The entrance side of the ground consists of a covered standing area, a bit like the old standing areas at Hampden, with muddy standing steps rather than concrete steps. Strangely this area is set back from the pitch by about ten yards with fencing to prevent fans from going any closer to the pitch. Adjacent to this is the exit gate and then the dressing room, office, pie stand and toilet areas. This area is tarmac and there is fencing is front of the buildings allow fans to stand closer to the pitch than in the covered area. I took up position here to watch the teams limbering up before Jim arrived about 14.15. He had been at Raith Rovers v Elgin last night and we hwere having a chat when he shouted "Watch". I turned round to see a ball kicked by the Broxburn goalkeeping coach heading towards me about a couple of feet above head height. I jumped and palmed the ball back onto the pitch towards the Broxburn keeper, Connor Wallace, who had been doing catching practice from the long kicks. The keeper offered me his gloves and laughed when I said that I would have held the ball if I had been wearing gloves.
I had only seen Broxburn play once before but recognised a few of the players. Jack Beesley and Craig Townsley had previously been with Spartans and Shaun Harrison had played in the Lowland League and the SPFL with Edinburgh City. Broxburn currently stand sixth in the EoS Premier League however with only one defeat in their nine matches and games in hand over those above them they could still challenge for a higher position. Broxburn are also doing well in the Scottish Cup and following their replay win over Cowdenbeath travel to Inverurie next week to face Inverurie Loco in the third round. A win there could mean Broxburn facing SPL opposition in the next round. Linlithgow were one of the giants in junior football but have not done so well since their switch to the senior ranks. They are currently ninth in the table and have recently appointed Brown Ferguson, who previously managed Stenhousemuir among other coaching jobs, as following the sacking of Mark Bradley. The Rose are also still in the Scottish Cup and face League One side Falkirk next Friday bidding for a place in the next round. On the playing side I recognised Pat Scullion, formerly with Berwick and Edinburgh City, and Ross Allum, who had played with Edinburgh City and Spartans. Linlithgow's star man is Tommy Coyne, son of the former Motherwell and Celtic striker of the same name. Coyne jnr. has played for Linlithgow for ten years and recently celebrated with a testimonial match. During that time he has scored over three hundred goals for the Rose.
The game started with Broxburn doing most of the attacking although clear chances were at a premium. After sixteen minutes Nick Locke was booked for an alleged dive in the Linlithgow penalty area although from where I was standing it looked more like he had tripped rather than go down deliberately. Minutes later Broxburn lost Harrison to injury. He went into a challenge about thirty yards from goal and while the Linlithgow player involved got up quickly Harrison was left lying on the pitch screaming in agony and holding his knee. The physio was quickly summoned and immediately called for a stretcher. After a couple of minutes delayed the defender was carried off the pitch to the dressing room and Nico Gibson came on as his replacement. An ambulance was summoned and arrived around twenty minutes later to take the player to hospital for what looked like a serious injury. In the interim The game continued and Broxburn went ahead after twenty-three minutes. Conor Kelly made a good run down the left beating full-back Kevin McKinlay for pace. He squared the ball across the penalty box to Locke around ten yards from goal. The striker appeared to mishit his shot but the ball bobbled past Michael McKinven for the first goal of the match. Linlithgow equalised in forty-one minutes when Broxburn defender Gordon Donaldson slipped when gathering a pass twenty yards from goal. Coyne gathered the loose ball and ran into the penalty area to beat Wallace with a low shot across goal. Just before the halftime whistle Locke had a great chance when he broke from the halfway line just to the left of the centre circle. His way to goal was clear as Linlithgow had only two defenders on the left who were slow getting across. From just outside the penalty area Locke fired in a low shot that McKinven palmed away for a corner. After the halftime whistle Broxburn assistant manager Steven Hislop had a rant at the referee as the team left the field. He clearly felt the referee had been lenient and had favoured Linlithgow although I thought the referee had done well although he maybe should have taken action for one bad challenge on Kelly.
I don't know what Brown Ferguson said to his players at halftime but Linlithgow looked a completely different side in the second half. In forty-seven minutes they forced a corner on the right. Owen Ronald sent the ball high into the penalty area. Scullion jumped highest around eight yards from goal to head the ball past Kelly and give Rose the lead. A couple of minutes later Ronald hit a shot from just outside the penalty area against the Broxburn crossbar. The ball rebounded back into play and was cleared by the defence. Linlithgow went further ahead after sixty-one minutes when a cross from the left was back back across goal by Allum for Coyne to head home from just outside the six yard box. Broxburn came back into the match in the last twenty minutes but other than a goalmouth scramble where a shot rebounded of a post where unable to trouble McKinven in the Rose goal. The end to a poor day for Broxburn came deep into injury time when Donaldson, who had earlier had a yellow card for diving, received a second yellow and a subsequent red for a poor challenge on Ronald on the halfway line. From where I was standing the tackle looked dangerous and worthy of a straight red but the second yellow left Broxburn playing out the last few seconds with ten men.
After the final whistle Jim gave me a lift back into town, dropping me of at Murrayfield. From there I caught a bus to Haymarket and then walked home. Given the early kick-off I was in the house around 17.00 which is quicker than I normally get back from Tynecastle. On a final note Scotland won 2-1 in Nicosia although Naismith was substituted after about an hour however he is not seriously injured and is expected to play again form Scotland next mid-week.
TeamsThe game started with Broxburn doing most of the attacking although clear chances were at a premium. After sixteen minutes Nick Locke was booked for an alleged dive in the Linlithgow penalty area although from where I was standing it looked more like he had tripped rather than go down deliberately. Minutes later Broxburn lost Harrison to injury. He went into a challenge about thirty yards from goal and while the Linlithgow player involved got up quickly Harrison was left lying on the pitch screaming in agony and holding his knee. The physio was quickly summoned and immediately called for a stretcher. After a couple of minutes delayed the defender was carried off the pitch to the dressing room and Nico Gibson came on as his replacement. An ambulance was summoned and arrived around twenty minutes later to take the player to hospital for what looked like a serious injury. In the interim The game continued and Broxburn went ahead after twenty-three minutes. Conor Kelly made a good run down the left beating full-back Kevin McKinlay for pace. He squared the ball across the penalty box to Locke around ten yards from goal. The striker appeared to mishit his shot but the ball bobbled past Michael McKinven for the first goal of the match. Linlithgow equalised in forty-one minutes when Broxburn defender Gordon Donaldson slipped when gathering a pass twenty yards from goal. Coyne gathered the loose ball and ran into the penalty area to beat Wallace with a low shot across goal. Just before the halftime whistle Locke had a great chance when he broke from the halfway line just to the left of the centre circle. His way to goal was clear as Linlithgow had only two defenders on the left who were slow getting across. From just outside the penalty area Locke fired in a low shot that McKinven palmed away for a corner. After the halftime whistle Broxburn assistant manager Steven Hislop had a rant at the referee as the team left the field. He clearly felt the referee had been lenient and had favoured Linlithgow although I thought the referee had done well although he maybe should have taken action for one bad challenge on Kelly.
I don't know what Brown Ferguson said to his players at halftime but Linlithgow looked a completely different side in the second half. In forty-seven minutes they forced a corner on the right. Owen Ronald sent the ball high into the penalty area. Scullion jumped highest around eight yards from goal to head the ball past Kelly and give Rose the lead. A couple of minutes later Ronald hit a shot from just outside the penalty area against the Broxburn crossbar. The ball rebounded back into play and was cleared by the defence. Linlithgow went further ahead after sixty-one minutes when a cross from the left was back back across goal by Allum for Coyne to head home from just outside the six yard box. Broxburn came back into the match in the last twenty minutes but other than a goalmouth scramble where a shot rebounded of a post where unable to trouble McKinven in the Rose goal. The end to a poor day for Broxburn came deep into injury time when Donaldson, who had earlier had a yellow card for diving, received a second yellow and a subsequent red for a poor challenge on Ronald on the halfway line. From where I was standing the tackle looked dangerous and worthy of a straight red but the second yellow left Broxburn playing out the last few seconds with ten men.
After the final whistle Jim gave me a lift back into town, dropping me of at Murrayfield. From there I caught a bus to Haymarket and then walked home. Given the early kick-off I was in the house around 17.00 which is quicker than I normally get back from Tynecastle. On a final note Scotland won 2-1 in Nicosia although Naismith was substituted after about an hour however he is not seriously injured and is expected to play again form Scotland next mid-week.
Broxburn: Wallace, A. Grant, Donaldson, Harrison, Gavin, Scott, Beesley, J.Grant, Miller, Locke, Kelly.
Subs: Gibson, Ross, Binnie.
Linlithgow: McKinven, McKinlay, Thom, McGowan, Ronald, MacLennan, Coyne, Allum, Scullion, Meikle, Slaven.
Subs: Hutchinson, Smith.
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