1st July 2021 Craigroyston 1 Edinburgh South 2

Another beautiful day today and decided to head for a new ground for me, St Marks Park the home of Craigroyston FC. After a quick bite to eat I headed along to Tollcross to catch a bus to the ground at 18.30ish. I had done quite a bit of walking during the day so decided to be lazy tonight. I caught a 23 and met Alan on the bus. We both got of at Cannonmills and walked along past the site of the old Powderhall stadium towards the ground. I used to go to Powderhall regularly to watch Edinburgh Monarchs speedway racing but have only been out to their new track at Armadale on a couple of occasions. The Craigroyston ground is in a public park and just of the main road. We walked down to the gates were entrance was by donation only and after placing cash in the collecting tins entered the ground. Spectators were only allowed in the area behind one goal and also the side of the pitch opposite the dugouts so we took up position against the fence at the side of the pitch. The ground is in a nice location with trees and hedges all round. the area behind the goal on the right of the photos has netting behind the goals but that did not prevent balls flying into the wood behind. I had told Alan that I was meeting Jim and once he arrived I left Alan with Jim and I taking up position on the raised grass bank above the fence. 

Craigroyston have been 'whipping boys' of the East of Scotland League for a number of years and were threatened with closure at the end of season 2019/20. However a new team took over operating the club and they finished eighth in last seasons truncated league. Unfortunately their were no team sheets of team announcements so I have no idea of the Craigroyston team although they did look a youngish side. Edinburgh South have been a long-established boys club based at Inch Park near Cameron Toll. Last season they started a senior side and joined the East of Scotland League, sharing Dalkeith Thistle's home found at Kings Park.  They had a good start with six wins from ten games before Covid ended the season. They have an experience 'spine' to the side with centre-half Jim Young (Edinburgh United and Whitehill), midfielder Ainslie Hunter  (Vale of Leithen) and striker Sean Jamieson (Bonyrigg and Newtongrange) all having played senior football previously.

The match was started by the referee but there were no linesmen. Normally officials from the two sides would be nominated as linesmen to indicate when the ball goes out of play but the referee wa left on his own today. This led to dissent from players on both sides, starting early in the game with shouts of "how did you think that was out ' after the award of a throw-in. There was also a strange incident where a pass bounced of the referee but still made its way to anther Craigroyston player. The laws state that a dropped ball should be awarded in this type of situation but play continued unchecked. South took an early lead after a short corner was played in the penalty box and after it bounced around in the area was poked into the net by centre-half Young from around eight yards. Craigroyston should have been alive to clearing the ball as an earlier 'stramash'  had attempts by Gray and Jamieson being blocked before the ball was cleared. Craigroyston equalised in thirty-two minutes with a disputed penalty. A move down the right ended with a ball played into the penalty box and chased by a Craigroyston forward. He was taken down by the diving Tompos in the South goal just outside the six yard box and a penalty awarded. It was difficult to tell from where we were standing if the forward would have got the ball or if the challenge had been a deliberate foul. However with no VAR it was a penalty, despite vociferous protests from the South team. Craigroyston's number nine took the kick and slammed the ball into the top of the net. 

Throughout the second half both sides used a number of substitutes to give game time to their squads. Both teams even used their back keepers in the second half. This resulted in the game not flowing all and neither goalkeeper was seriously troubled. Some of the shooting at both ends of the park was high, wide and not very handsome with balls disappearing into the trees and hedges of several occasions. However South took the lead again in eighty-two minutes, again for a penalty. Substitute Vaughan broke into the penalty area from the left and went down following a challenge fro a defender with what used to be known as a shoulder charge. Again the referee awarded a penalty despite a chorus of disapproval from the Craigroyston team. Jamieson took the kick and sent the keeper the wrong way as he shot low into the right hand corner of the net. with three minutes to go the referee finally took action on the ongoing dissent by booking the Craigroyston substitute number 32. 

On he final whistle I left a walked back to Cannonmills for a bus home. Again I met Alan at th bus stop and we chatted on the way home. I was a bit annoyed that my closest bus stop was closed due to roadworks and I had further to walk when I got of the bus but was still home just after 22.00.

Teams

Craigroyston: N/A

Edinburgh South: Tompos, Tennant, Kerr, Young, O'Hara, Hunter, Coyle, Ross, Robertson, Gray, Jamieson.

Subs: Fisher, Sharkey, Daly, Hassan, Mitchell, Vaughan.