18th September 2021 Penicuik Athletic 1 Tranent Juniors 3

 

Scottish Cup first round today and with Hearts away at Ross County I decided to go to the tie of the round, in my opinion, Penicuik Athletic v Tranent Juniors. Natalie was childminding so i had an early lunch and left home  around 12.30. I walked as far as Minto Street and then caught a 37 bus tp Penicuik. After the usual detours by way of Loanhead and Roslin, not help by roadworks and temporary lights in both villages, I arrived in Penicuik at around 13.35. Kickoff was at 4.30 so I got of the bus a few stops early and walked to the ground in the sunshine. The match was all ticket but I had picked up my ticket when I went to Penicuik last week so there was no waiting on entry. At the gate John was selling programmes. The programme was a 32 page special and as usual an excellent read. John and I had a chat before I wandered off to find a vantage point to watch the game. I found a good stop in the cover enclosure but just before kick a family arrived with two kids and a vuvuzela. I decided the noise would be too much and wandered round to the other side of the park toking up position against the perimeter fence near the edge of the penalty area. 

This cup-tie promised to be an exciting encounter. Penicuik and Tranent are the top two sides in the East of Scotland League. Both sides have only been defeated once this season and tranent led the table only on goal difference. Penicuik brought experienced full-backs Andy Forbes and Ryan Baptie into the side following last weeks defeat of Hawick. However striker Paul Tansey, who was on the pitch at the warm-up but not stripped for the match, was injured and replaced by Cameron Dawson up front. Dawson for me is a Scottish Peter Crouch, a tall forward with a lot more skill than would be expected. He is currently on loan from Spartans and will always provide a goal threat but does not have the pace, guile and experience of Tansey. I was surprised toes Bob Watt start in goal following his red card last week. However I thinks suspension will apply to the next league or Qualifying Cup match played by the club. Tranent managed by former Hearts player Calum Elliot have a strong experienced squad. Elliot has strengthened his squad over the close season signing a number of new players including Craig "Grinchy " Stevenson from Penicuik, Jamie Docherty (Bonnyrigg) and Matthew Knox (Livingston). Goalkeeper Ali Adams, who has played for a number of sids as a trialist those season,  has also re-signed for the club after retiring while centre-back Brad Donaldson has returned after a spell at Musselburgh. 

The game started badly for Tranent when Kyle Lander went down injured in the Penicuik penalty area clutching his leg in the first minute. After several minutes treatment he had to be helped of the pitch, limping, by the physionnd was replaced by Knox. I saw him later in the game as he walked round the pitch towards the bench  and he was on crutches and wearing a large boo on his foot and it looked as if it was serious injury. The game started slowly with a lot of the action is midfield but the first clear chance came along in twenty-two minutes. Despite Adams shouting to “Get rid of it” centre back Dean Whitson tried a passbook from just out side the penalty area. Dawson intercepted the pass and laid the ball back to Robbie Neave around fifteen yards from an empty goal as Adams rushed towards Dawson. Neave seemed to completely mishit his effort which trundled past the far post. Shortly afterwards Donaldson went into the referee’s notebook for a foul on Dawson on the left touchline, Baptie's free-kick was headed into the net by Forbes from around ten yards despite Adams getting a hand to it to give Penicuik the lead. Unfortunately Dawson went down approaching halftime and limped of to be replaced by Aaron Somerville.  Tranent came back into the game and as the game went into injury time equalised. Sean Wringe went down in the penalty area after a challenge by Paul Thomson which from where I was standing looked more like a slip than a foul. The referee disagreed and awarded Tranent  a penalty. "Grinchy" stepped up to take the kick and sent Watt the wrong way as he shot low into the left hand corner of the net. 

Penicuik replaced Neave with new signing Scott McCrory-Irving at half time. McCrory-Irving had played for Penicuik before spending eighteen months with Spartans and was a popular re-signing amongst the Penicuik fans. Penicuik came close after Nicky Reid gathered a one-two from Furness and forced Adams into a diving save to turn the ball round the post. As the hour mark approached Soerville ran onto through ball from McCrory-Irving on the right. He moved into the penalty area with only Adams to beat as the Tranent defence looked for an offside flag. Unfortunately his shot went past the approaching Adams and out beyond the far post for a goal-kick. With fifteen minutes left Tranent took the lead. "Grinchy" sent a cross into the penalty area towards Knox. His initial effort was blocked by Watt as was his follow-up but the ball ran towards Docherty on the left who fired it high into the net at the far post. Penicuik were ow chasing the game and this left gaps at the back. Wth five minutes to go Tranent’s Adam Watson broke down the right of the field but his cross was too long. Docherty gathered the ball and sent it back into the box where substitute Ben Miller’s initial shot was blocked by Watt. The ball however fell back to Miller who rolled it into the net from about eight yards to clinch the game for Tranent. While I admit to leaning towards Penicuik I think Tranent deserved their victory. In the second half, in particular, they looked a stronger side both mentally and physically and dominated the midfield.

After the game I walked out of the JohnStreet entrance and saw on my phone that a 37 bus was due. I could see it at the previous stop and caught it back into town. Unfortunately the journey seemed to take ages as the bus stopped at Loanhead to take on passengers form the following bus which was running late. I finally got home at 17.30 after leaving the ground at 16.16.

Teams

Penicuik Athletic: Watt, Forbes, Baptie, Young, Thomson, Watson, Furness, Neave, Dawson, Walsh, Reid

Subs: Someville, McCrory-Irving, Hope

Tranent Juniors: Adams, Stevenson, Rutherford,  Donaldson, Whitson,Anderson, Docherty, Watson, Wringe, Murphy, Lander

Subs: Knox, Miller, Thomson.