17th July 2021 Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale 2 Musselburgh Athletic 2
As always with LHTV there were no programmes issued or indeed were the teams announced over the tannoy. I had therefore little idea of the LHTV line-up although I did recognise the number eleven, Joe Viola, who previously played for Penicuik. Thankfully however I managed to piece together the full line-up after the game after a search online. I wonder if the Darremn Smith who scored for LTHV is the same Darren Smith who played for Hutcheson Vale as they were called then alongside my son Craig at juvenile level given they were both born in the same year. Full-back Michael Deland had played for Musselburgh prior to joining LTHV. Musselburgh have a settled side and the line-up was similar to that which played against Arniston earlier this season. Record goal scorer and former Hearts player Matty King was on the substitutes bench.
The game started with LTHV on the attack and they opened the scoring after six minutes. A ball in the penalty area was cleared by the Musselburgh defence but landed at the feet of LHTVs Darren Smith some thirty yards from goal. He took a touch then shot high into the top corner of the net giving keeper giving keeper Ross McRae no chance of making a save. A contender for goal of the season already ! Musselburgh came more into the game and equalised in twenty-three minutes. A corner from the right was fired high into centre of the penalty box. Declan O'Kane rose highest in a group of players to head home from the edge of the six yard box.The scorer was yellow carded two minutes later and this proved costly as the game progressed. Musselburgh went ahead in twenty-nine minutes when another corner from the right was flicked on at the near post. Striker Dean Ballantyne then poked the ball home from close range. Three minutes later O'Kane was shown a second yellow card and a subsequent red to leave Musselburgh with ten men. O'Kane went into a challenge with Niall Doherty just inside the LHTV half. The challenge was hard and deemed dangerous by the referee leading to the dismissal. I thought the decision was fair, despite the comments from Musselburgh fans, as Doherty required attention before being helped from the field and replaced by Louis Signorini. LHTV tried to press home their numerical advantage but there was no further scoring before halftime.
Musselburgh knew they would be under the pressure in the second half and replaced goalscorer Ballantyne with full-back Jordan Orru at the interval. Early in this second half the LTHV were desperately looking for an equaliser. Murray came close with a header from a cross by Sam Penker before Viola forced a corner on the right. From the kick O'Brien, at the far post, headed against the bar from eight yards. Musselburgh's 'out ball' was a long pass towards Nathan Evans now operating on his own up front. Evans, the son of former Hibs player Gareth Evans, was running tirelessly but had little support up front. The equaliser came in fifty-nine minutes when Viola dashed into the box and tried to work his way along the bye-line before being clipped from behind with a poor challenge. The referee, despite more shouts from the Musselburgh fans, had no hesitation in awarding a penalty and Smith sent keeper McRae the wrong way with a low shot into the bottom right corner of the net. Callum Donaldson was booked for dissent around the seventy minute mark and things got worse for the Musselburgh defender three minutes later. He made an off the ball challenge on the halfway line after the ball had gone which was spotted by the referee. The referee had no alternative than to show the second yellow and then the red card leaving Musselburgh with nine men for the remainder of the game. Despite constant pressure the closest LHTV came to a winner was when Viola attempted to curl the ball into the top corner from twenty yards after one -two with Signorini. Unfortunately, as Jim said "He is not Messi", the ball flew over the bar. Into injury a shot ended up among the Musselburgh fans on the grassy bank behind the goals. The fans had been screaming for the referee to blow for time and in frustration one of them picked up the ball and drop kicked it over the perimeter fence into some-ones back garden behind the ground. It was to no avail as another ball was provided to play out the remaining couple of minutes of an enjoyable game.
After the game as Jim and I made our way towards the exit a couple of LTHV players came to the pitch barriers to exchange pleasantries with the Musselburgh fan responsible for the lost ball. Thankfully he kept his cool this time, ignored them, and continued walking towards the exit gate. At the dressing room entrance Musselburgh players were shouting at th LTHV side to calm down but thankfully there were no further incidents. I left Jim and walked along to Crewe Toll roundabout to catch a bus home. A 24 arrived first and as I was getting on Alan also boarded the bus. We had a chat about the game on the way back into town and both agreed that the referee had been correct in the two red cards. I got of at the top of Lothian Road and walked the rest of the way home arriving around 22.05.
Teams
Subs: Signorinii, Ross
Subs: Orru, Wynne
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