11th September 2021 Penicuik Athletic 11 Hawick Royal Albert 2

 

With Hearts playing Hibs tomorrow I decided to make my first visit to Penicuik since November 2019. Penicuik were playing Hawick Royal Albert United in the East of Scotland Qualifying Cup and I expected to see a few goals. I left home at 12.45 and walked the three miles to. Ameron Toll. Stupidly I boarded a 37 to Penicuik rather than wait for the 47 three minutes later. The 37 diverts through Loanhead and Roslin on the way to Penicuik while the 47 goes directly to Penicuik. I arrived at the ground at 14.15 for the 14.30 kickoff. I had bought an electronic ticket through Fanbase and this was scanned to allow me entry. Inside the ground I bought a programme from my old work colleague John. John is on the Penicuik committee and warned me that after I had previously been at Penicuik only defeat off the season, at Musselburgh, I would be banned if they lost today ! The Penicuik programme is excellent value with some great reading material. I wandered round to the halfway line under the covered enclosure to watch the first half.

Penicuik are currently leading the east of Scotland `premier Division along it Tranet. Both teams have only had one league defeat each so far this season. Penicuik lost manager Tony Begg after two league games when he resigned to take on a full-time coaching role with Hibs and have been managed by assistant manger Tony Lees and coaches Grant Sandison and John  enzies until two weeks ago. At that time Steven Mcleish was appointed as knew manager. MacLeish had previously been manager at Tynecastle, Haddi gton, Musselburgh and  ewtongrange along with full-time time roles at both Hibs and East Fife. I have personal experience of his coaching having attended  a coaching course he ran when I was helping at Crammond Boys Club. The course was excellent but showed how unfit I was twenty-five years ago. Hawick are struggling in the East of Scotland conference B with three points to their name thus far. While they have been stalwart members of the EoS leagues for a number of years the influx of former  junior teams have shown their lack of depth within the squad and they have struggled over the last there years. 

The game started as everyone present expected with Penicuik on the attack. The home side could have gone ahead after two minutes when Paul Tansey ran onto a through ball on the left hand side of the penalty area. His initial shot spun into the air of the diving Kerr Brown in the Hawick goal. Tansey ran past  down to collect the rebound but his shot hit the side netting. Brown made some good saves from Nicky Reid and Aidan Walsh before Hawick went ahead in twenty-one minutes. Steele won a race with Darrell Young for a through balll and knocked the ball past Penicuik keeper Bob Watt. As Steele ran past the keeper he was fouled in the penalty area. The referee awarded a penalty and booked Watt for denying a clear goal scoring opportunity. Lewis Swaney shot low past the diving Tait to give Hawick the lead. Penicuik equalised three minutes later when Robbie leave ran onto  through pas from Nicky Reid. Leave stopped at the edge of the penalty area as keeper Brown ran from his goal and then chipped the ball over his head into the net. next came the Nicky Reid show as the striker scored a ten minute hat-trick. The first came in twenty-six minutes when he met a Paul Tansey cross at the far post and knocked int one from the edge of the six yard box. Six minutes later he ran onto a through ball on the right hand side of the penalty area and sent a left-ootid shot across brown into the far corner of the net. In thirty-six minutes Kieran Watson touched a short free-kick to Reid about twenty-five yards from goal for the striker to shoot into the corner of the net at the near post. Jack Furness set up goal number five in forty-three minutes with a run into the penalty box on the right. As Brown rushed out to block him the mid-fielder lobbed the ball over his head for Reece Hope to force it home at the far post. 

5-1 to Penicuik at halftime and I decided to move to the other side of the pitch for the second half. there was no queue at the hut were tickets were being sold for next weeks Sottish Cup tie against Tranent. I had ordered a ticket online so asked when the tickets were being posted out. After a quick search through a box of envelopes I was handed my ticket. I did not ask for a refund of my £2 postage charge !

Penicuik bought on Aaron Somerville for hat-trick hero Reid at halftime. As Somerville has scored ninety goals during his time at Penicuik this was not a defensive move. However the first goal of the second half came from Hawick. Hagan Steele was fouled by keeper Watt as he ran across the penalty area. It was a clear penalty and a second yellow card and hence a red for Watt. With no substitute keeper on the bench Penicuik had to put an outfield player in goal for the penalty and the rest of the game. At first it looked as if Tansey was going to take the keepers jersey but Watson eventually went into goal. His first act was to pick the ball out of the net as Steele sent him the wrong way for the penalty. At 5-2 in the lead and no regular keeper you would have expected Penicuik to sit in and defend their lead but this was not the case. Tansey moved back into a midfield role as Penicuik switched to a 4-3-2 formation. The goals then continued to flow:

54 minutes : Tansey with a shot from outside the box on the right aftrter som good inter-passing in midfield.

61 minutes: Darrell Young with a header from a corner from Furness from the left.

65 minutes: Substitute Cameron Dawson with a  header after a corner was cleared then returned into the penalty area by Furness.

69 minutes: Furness from about thirty-five yards as he returned a poor clearance from Hawick keeper Brown over this head into the net.

88 minutes: Dawson with a header when a shot was blocked by Brown and spun into the air. Dawson was injured when scoring but recovered after treatment.

89 minutes: Somerville from the edge of the penalty area after some good interplay by substitutes Kateleza and Dawson before a lay-off to Somerville.

All in all a really good game although I felt sorry for Hawick. Late on they brought on substitutes and their centre-half-half shouted ' What is the f****** point". I could understand his frustration although to give them their due Hawick did not resort to foul tactics. Given Penicuik had one player sent off it was commendable that Hawick had only one yellow card during the game. 

After the final whistle I caught 37 back to the Meadows and walked from there arriving home home around 17.40.

Teams

Penicuik Athletic: Watt, Finnie, Thomson, Young, Hope, Furness, Watson, Neave, Walsh, Reid, Tansey.

Subs: Somerville, Dawson, Katezela.

Hawick Royal Albert United: Brown, Ngoa, Shepherd, Shankie, Leslie, Craig, Ford, Gray, Nuttall, Steele, Swaney,

Subs: Murphy, Burton, Scott.