15th October 2021. Edinburgh City 2 Kelty Hearts 3

A week without being at a match but tonight heading to Ainslie Park again for Edinburgh City v Kelty Hearts, a league Two table topping clash. I had been childminding most of the day and did not arrive home until round 17.50. After a quick meal I got ready to heading to Ainslie Park. The forecast was for a chilly evening so I made sure I was wrapped up warmly in my parka. I had  walked a long distance today so decide to catch a bus to the ground. I caught a 23 to Goldenacre and walked from there arriving around 19.15. I had no problems getting in with my Fanbase purchase e-ticket and me Jim inside the turnstile area. I was disappointed to hear that no prints programmes were available. I found out that Alick the programme editor had had computer problems and had therefore been unable to get the details to the printers in time for printing. Jim and I stood around the turnstile area talking to some other people waiting for the arrival of Alex and Martin. Alex arrived, coming from the stand area as we had missed each other coming in. As kick-off approached Martin texted Jim to say that he was stuck in traffic but would arrive soon. Jim replied that we would be on the grassy embankment at the Hilton nd of the ground and me moved to that area. The ground was filling well with a substantial number of Key fans and it looked a six there would be a good crowd at the game. The final attendance was 726, almost twice the. Given that the  previous highest attendance for City this season. Given Cit's impending move back to Meadowbank with a 500 capacity it appears that this figure may not be sufficient and games will require to be all-ticket to prevent fans being disappointed by being refused entry.

City have improved over the past few weeks but still have a long injury list particularly in defence. Lewis Toshney, Lee Hamilton, Robbie McIntyre and Callum Crane are all still injured. The central pair tonight was Chris Kane and Dave McKay with Lewis Kidd and Scott Reekie wide, Kelty have strolled through the leagues side joining fro the junior leagues. They anticipated the movement into the pyramid and joined a season before the bulk of the junior sides. Having been promoted from EoS to Lowland and now into League Two they have ben extrodianly successful. Their side contains a number of experienced players including Nathan Austin (formerly with ICT), Joe Cardle (formerly Partck among others). Kallum Higginbotham (Fakirk, Partick and Dunfermline) and Michael Tidser (Morton and Falkirk) being the main men. They are currently unbeaten and sliding clear at the top of League One have defeated City 1-0 at Kelty a few weeks ago. Malawi international Keiran Ngwenya, on loan from Aberdeen, made his first start for Kelty tonight. 

The game started as everyone expected wirth kelt having most of the possession and City being for to defend. However in their first attack after 16 minutes City scored. Robertson fed the balll through to Ouzy See in the centre of the penalty box and he shot low into the far corner to put City 1-0 up. Without checking back I think this is the first time I have seen See score for City. The lead did not last long as after twenty-two minutes Higginbotham sent Austin through on the left of the penalty area. From what looked, from where I was standing, a tight angle Austin sent a shot into the top corner of the City net. Minutes later Kane was yellow carded for stopping a forward pass just outside the penalty area by handling the ball. Austin tried to bend the free-kick round the defensive wall a it required a good save from Brian Schwake to prevent Kelly taking the lead. However in thirty-seven minutes Kane was adjudged to have fouled Austin just outside the penalty area. This time Tidser took the kick and gave Schwake no chance with a shot into the top right hand corner of the goal.

The second half continued much as the first and Kelty scored their third goal after forty-eight minutes. A cross from the right by Higginbitham was headed down by Cardle to Austin, From about twelve yards out he made no mistake with a low shot into the left hand corner of the net. Austin was now looking for his hat-trick nd he forced an excellent save from Schwake after sixty-six minutes. His shot from about fifteen yards had the keeper leaping to touch the ball over the bar. Kelty replaced Cardle with Botti Biabi minutes later. I first saw Biabi play for Falkirk back in 2014 and he has always impressed with his pace and control however finishing is not his forte and he failed to trouble Schwake in the city goal. Twice in the second half Kelty sent excellent low crosses across the six yard box but not one was available to take advantage and put the ball into the net. Austin can be excused given it was him who initiated the move for the first of these opportunities. City started to come back into the game in the last ten minutes and Murray had a shot from a tight angle on the left turned over the bar by Jamieson in the the Kelty goal. Surprisingly the referee awarded a goal-kick. With two minutes to go Murray had another attempt from outside ether penalty area n the right. It seemed an easy take for Jamieson but he allowed th ball to squirm out of his grasp and into the net to give City a second goal. Despite four minutes of injury time City were unable to create another  chance and Kelly left with the well-deserved three points.

After the final whistle I headed up to Ferry Road to find it was eight minutes until the enxytf 27 bu to get me home. I walked along to Crewe Toll to find there was nothing for twelve minutes and ended up getting the 27 home. With the hearest bus stop closed due to road-works I got off at Tollcross and walked home arriving around 22.20.

Teams

Edinburgh City: Schwake, Kidd, Reekie, Kane, McKay, Tapping, Ferguson,  Robertson, See, Handling, Murray

Subs: Jarron, Shanley, Hilton, Berry

Kelty Hearts: Jamieson, Finlayson, Mgwenya, Barron, Hooper, O'Ware, Cardle, Tidser, Austin, Barjonas, Higginbotham

Subs: Black, Biabi, Philp

The programme for the match was finally printed in February 2022 and I have attached a photo of the issue.