Off to Paisley tonight for what is a must win game for Hearts. While they picked up a point from their draw with Motherwell on Saturday Hamilton, second bottom of the table, scored a late winner at Kilmarnock and the gap at the foot now stands at four points. A win tonight will close the gap to a point and drag St. Mirren back into the relegation fight. After a bite to eat I wandered down to Haymarket Station to catch a train to Paisley. I caught the first train to Glasgow Queen Street at 17.13 which was a bad mistake as it was not a direct service but went via places like Camelon, Shotts and Roboyston. On arrival at Queen Street I walked the short distance to Central Station and caught the 18.40  to Paisley St. James. The station is in the same street as the ground and I was there by 19.00. Remembering my last visit as I bought a programme in the club shop as there are no programme sellers at the away stand. There was a long queue for entry with only four turnstiles open for the

There was a choice of matches to go to tonight but as weather was still changeable I did not want to go to far from home. I decided to go out to Riccarton to watch Heriot-Watt University(HWU) play Linlithgow Rose in the East of Scotland League Cup. I left home around 18.30 and caught a 35 bus out to HWU arriving there at 19.00. An internet search had indicated that the match had been switched to an artificial surface but the Oriam indoor pitch was occupied by a booked team training session and the match was taking place on one of the  the outdoor grass pitches. Paid my £6 entry fee and was in the ground by 19.10. There is usually a programme on issue at HWU fixtures but as Linlithgow had only qualified for this round by beating Peebles Rovers 3-0 on Saturday there was not an issue available tonight. Malcolm was going to attend the match but had not arrived by kick-off. HWU play in the East of Scotland Conference A and are currently fourth in the table with forty-three points from

Another very important game for Hearts today. surprisingly after Hearts won the Edinburgh Derby on Tuesday to move of the bottom of the SPL, Hamilton beat Rangers 1-0 at Ibrox the following night to move back above Hearts. This was only the second time Hamilton have won a league match at Ibrox for ninety-four years. I had been out in the morning and did not get home for lunch until 13.00. After lunch I did some tidying up on my Mac and then left for Tynecastle . Arrived around 14.15 and then went for a coffee. I got to my seat around  14.25 and met Eric. We had a long chat about Hearts recent upsurge in form. He was not at Easter Road for the Derby but had watched it on television and agreed with me that the first goal had been crucial.  Hearts made one change to the starting eleven at Easter Road. Captain Steven Naismith came back into the starting eleven with Liam Boyce moving to the bench. The substitutes bench comprised goal-keeper Joel Pereira and six attacking players with

After the excitement of the Edinburgh derby last night I headed to quieter climes tonight. I went to  watch Tynecastle take on Musselburgh Athletic in the Lowland League Cup round two. The ground is a short walk from where I stay and I walked along the canal towpath to the ground arriving at around 19.10 for the 19.30 kickoff. I paid my £6 entry fee and headed towards the main stand. Tynecastle do not issue programmes and I had to rely on the tannoy for information on the teams. Jim arrived shortly afterwards and we took up position in seats on the halfway line to watch the match.  Tynecastle play at Meggetland, a council owned facility, in the Craiglockhart area of Edinburgh. Meggetland has been used for school sports for a number of years and the enclosed ground was built around ten years or so ago, originally for the use of Boroghmuir Rugby Club. Tynecastle now share the facility and for a joint use park the pitch is in remarkably good condition. Tyneastle were one of the o

Tonight was an important match for Hearts. After their cup victory over Rangers on Saturday they were returning to league business against Hibs in a local derby at Easter Road. The sides have been drawn to face each other in the cup semi-finals but for Hearts tonights league encounter was probably as, if not more, important. They badly needed to follow up their cup victory with another win tonight to take them of the bottom of the league table and away from the threat of relegation. I left home at 18.15 to walk down to Easter Road and arrived outside the ground at around 19.10. As normal no programme sellers were in evidence at the away end of Easter Road but I had already arranged to have a copy sent to me direct to the printer. Security was ridiculous with police examining tickets at a first set of barriers and them security staff doing body searches on all fans at a second. I must have an honest face as I was let through the second barriers without a search being carried out. Af

I was going to watch Edinburgh United v Tynecastle this afternoon but game was called off as pitch was waterlogged so only going to one game today. I left home at 16.40 to walk to Tynecastle. The weather had been fine all day but as soon I as I left the apartment block the rain started. I had arranged to meet Craig outside Tynecastle at 17.00. He was taking Harper and one of his friends. However his wife Claire also wanted to go along so he had got her a ticket which I had picked up for him at Tynecastle this morning. They were all going to meet some of Craig's friends in the pub before the game. Craig's party arrived just after 17.00 and I gave hm the ticket for Claire. We all entered the ground together and I showed Claire my plaque on the wall in the entrance to sections P and Q. We all them went to our allocated seats and I reached my seat ten minutes before kick-off at 17.30. The crowd was lower than normal due I think to a combination of factors. These included the ga