13th August 2021 Edinburgh City 1 Stenhousemuir 0

 

Third trip to Ainslie Park this week and third different home side. It was Spartans on Tuesday followed by tenants LTHV on Wednesday and Edinburgh City tonight. City were meant to be moving back to a refurbished Meadowbank this season but the building works are not yet complete. It is hoped the work will be finished by the end of this year to allow City to 'return home'. I left home and 18.30 and hd a change of route walking to the ground. I walked through the Dean Village, Stockbtridge, Inverleith Park and then up to Ferry Road before down the hill to Ainslie Park. Arrived around 19.15 and had my ticket scanned at the turnstile. Programme was available for purchase at the ground and I bought a copy after going through the turnstile. As I walking walking I along the front of the stand I saw Alex was already seated so I joined him as I had a stand ticket. We saw Jim standing behind the goal as I knew he had purchased a ground ticket. It was the first time I had seen Alex since being at Musselburgh v Arniston in  June so we had a bit of catching up to do.

City have had a poor start to the season and are already out of the Premier Sports Cup while they have also lost their first two league matches without scoring a goal. The have not been helped by massive changes in the playing staff with only four of the players used tonight having been at City last season. Tonight City brought in, loanee from Livingston, Brian Schwake to replace Ryan Goodfellow. Schwake had replaced Goodfellow following injury in Saturdays league fixture at Forfar following an injury. Goodfellow has recovered enough to be among the substitutes with Schwake retained in the starting eleven. New signing Ciaran Brian, previously with Ytterhogdals IK in Sweden, also started tonight. Stenhousemuir have also going through major changes. Manager Stephen Swift joined towards the end of last season from BSC Glasgow (now Broomhill) replacing Davie Irons. Swift has looked to make his mark on his new team and after releasing most of last season squad has signed twenty new players for this season. A number of his signingss were know to him as part of the BSC squad with Michael Anderson, Declan Hughes, Ross Lyon, Jamie Mills and Ryan Tierney all following their old boss to Stenhousemuir. 

Stenhousemuir started well and keeper Schwake did well to get down to stop a shot from Thomas Orr at his left hand post. Bernie Coll then had a long range attempt which Schwake again stopped. The pressure on the City defence continued and Nicky Jamieson headed a corner over the bar after winning the tussle in the box with the City defence. City took the lead just after the half hour when Hibs loanee Ryan Shanley chased a Robbie McIntyre pass down the left. He jinked past a defender into the penalty area before hitting a low shot across keeper Colin Marshall into the the net. The scorer had another attempt minutes later from the edge of the penalty area. On this occasion his shot was destined for the houses behind the perimeter fence rather than the net. Just on the half-time whistle Stenhousemuir’s Robert Thomson headed a corner high and wide to the left of the goal. 

At half time I suggested to Alex that we move to join Jim in the standing section given the setting setting was causing issues with the view from the stand. He agreed and we wandered out to the grassy bank at the Hilton end to meet up with Jim. Stenhousemuir had a great chance at the start of the second half. Orr was fouled by Lewis Toshney in the penalty area and the referee awarded a penalty kick. Orr took the kick himself and Schwake did well to get down to the right hand corner of his goal o save. Thomson then had a shot from the left hand corner of the box blocked as Stenhousemuir pressed for an equaliser. City were coming more into the game and James Hilton shot high and wide after City were awarded a free-kick just outside the Stenhousemuir penalty area. Substitute Ouzy See the had a shot blocked by the defence when it looked easier to score. With about fifteen minutes to go Brian fouled Stenhousemuir’s James Lyon in front of the Stenhousemuir dugout. This caused what Arthur Montford used to call ;a rammy’ as the Stenhousemuir management became involved along with most of the players. The referee broke up the melee and three yellow cards were awarded. As the game moved into injury time Cammy Graham had a header touched away by the leaping Schwake for a corner. The final whistle signal a first win of the season for City with what was a gritty rather than an inspired performance.

After the final whistle I walked up towards Ferry Road to catch a 27 bus home. Unfortunately as earlier in the week the bus went past the road end before I could get to Ferry Road. It would appear that Lothian Buses timetables do not take account of matches at Ainslie Park. As next bus would not be for twelve minutes I walked along to Crewe Toll where there is a greater selection of buses. I saw a bus going past just before I reached the roundabout but was not concerned until I checked my phone at the stop. Nothing else was due for ten minutes. I went back onto Ferry Road as 27 was now due in four minutes. Caught that bus and was home around 22.20. The walk had at least increased my daily step count. 

Teams

Edinburgh City: Schwake, Brian, Crane, Toshney, McIntyre, Bronsky, Hilton, Jardine, Shanley, Tapping, Robertson

Subs: Handling, Kane, McFarlane, 

Stenhousemuir: Marshall, Reid, Coll, Wedderburn, Crighton, Jamieson, O'Reilly, Christie, Orr, Thomson, Brown.

Subs: Lyon, Graham, Tierney, Forbes.