12th March 2022 Penicuik Athletic 5 Peebles Rovers 1

 

The Scottish Cup quarter finals are being played today with Hearts meeting St Mirren at Tynecastle. The match is being televised on BBC Scotland and will not lick-off until 19.45 to fit in with the television schedules. Despite the disappointing result last week I decided to head out to Penicuik again for the East ofScotland League Cup match against Peebles Rovers. After an early lunch I left home at 12.30 and walked out to Minto Street where there is a choice of buses out to Penicuik. The 37 was due in three minutes while the 47 which takes a more direct route was not due foe twenty minutes. I decided to take the scenic route and caught the 37 which involved journeys through Loanhead and Roslin before arriving in Penicuik. I got off the bus at Tesco and walked the short distance to the ground from there. At the gate I showed my electronic Fanbase ticket for entry and purchased a £2 programme. I met my old work colleague John and we had a chat about football in general along with the gateman. The gateman was voluble in his dislike for Hearts manager Robbie Neilson. I cannot understand this as Hearts are playing a far better style of football now that they have done for several seasons. I then wandered round to the covered terracing to watch the match. 

While Penicuik sit second in the East of Scotland League Premier Division, Peebles are twelfth in the East of Scotland Conference B. Next season the A&B Conferences will change to a Championship and a first Division and it is almost certain Peebles will be in the First Division. Peebles have not won a league match since October and lost 9-0 to Penicuik is a pre-season friendly so the home side were clear favourites to win the tie. Penicuik made several changes to their side from last with Liam Robertson, son of former Hearts striker, in goal. Gregor Lamb, Cammy Dawson and Falkirk loanee Ben Weekes also returned to the starting eleven. Penicuik had a number of former Penicuik U20s in their team including Ross Lamb, the brother of Peebles’ Gregor.

Despite Penicuik being clear favourites to win and having most of the possession they pyramid seemed to be a. It sluggish if the first half.  Both Darrell Young and Aiden Walsh were yellow carded In the first half as Penicuik struggled to control midfield. Peebles looked dangerous on the break with Kyle Mitchell looking promising on the right wing. Keeper Robertson had to watch carefully as a shot from Lamb from outside the penalty area flew narrowly over his crossbar. Most of Penicuik attacking threat came from Walsh on the left but the final ball was lacking. Weekes barely had a touch on the right before on the forty minute mark Penicuik were awarded a free kick about twenty-five yards from goal on the left of the penalty area. Free-kick specialist Ryan Baptie was on the bench and Paul Tansey, who had fired an earlier attempt wide, deferred to Weekes. His shot was touched onto the post by Peebles keeper Cameron Hanratty and bounced towards Reece Hope on the Penicuik left inside the penalty area. His attempted cross was blocked straight back to him and his second attempt bounced off Tansey in the centre of the goal into the Peebles net from about six yards. I am not sure how much Tansey knew about his deflection but, given the ball would have probably gone out for a throw-in without the deflection, I think the striker could claim the goal. The goal certainly silence a group of Penicuik fans standing nearby who had spent the entire first half moaning about their sides performance.

Penicuik manager Stevie McLeish was obviously unhappy with his side’s first half performance as he replaced Walsh and Jack Furness with Kieran Watson and Scott McCrory-Irving in a bid to strengthen the midfield. Watson’s power and McCrory-Irving’s guile have featured heavily in Penicuik league challenge and helped turn this game in the home sides favour. Penicuik went two up after fifty-four minutes when Watson and Dawson worked the ball well from midfield towards the penalty box. Lewis Collins had moved forward from right back and cut int the penalty area. Dawson knocked the ball through to him and the defender finished well for his first Penicuik goal. Two minutes later Penicuik got a third when Weeks ran at the Peebles defence. He played the ball to Lamb on the edge of the box and went for the return. The Peebles defence failed to deal with the low cross towards the edge of of six yard box and Lamb shot under Hanratty to score against his previous club. Penicuik then made another three substitutions with Liam O’Donnell, David Edwards and Lumbert Kateleza coming on for Collins, Young and Weekes. O’Donnell was playing in his first game after an eighteen month injury absence. Edwards had been sent off in last weeks league match but his suspension does not apply to the League Cup. Paul Tansey then added a fourth goal in seventy-five minutes. Penicuik won a corner on the right which Tansey took and curled into the net past Hanratty at the far post. Ross Lamb then decided to show that ‘anything he can do I can do better’ to his brother. Peebles won a free-kick around twenty yards from goal on the right hand side of the penalty area. Lamb’s shot gave keeper Robertson no chance of making a save as flew past the defence wall into the right hand corner of his net. A minute later Tansey complete his hat-trick when he converted a low cross from the right at the far post despite a desperate effort by the Peebles defence to clear the ball. After a good second half performance the final score was a deserved result for the home side.

On th final whistle I left the ground but was disappointed to see a 47 bus fly past the stop outside the park before I could get there. I waited for a 37, as the Stagecoach bus I caught last week  did not appear today, and again took the scenic route through Roslin and Loanhead before getting off at Surgeons Hall. I walked through to Lauriston to find out nothing was due for another fifteen minutes so walked home from there arriving back around 17.35.

Teams

Penicuik Athletic: Robertson, Collins, Hope, Forbes, Young, Lamb, Weeks, Furness, Dawson, Walsh, Tansey.

Subs: Watson, McCrory-Irving, O'Donnell, Edwards, Kateleza.

Peebles Rovers: Hanratty, Mitchell, Skinner, Andrew, Anderson, Tickle, Mitchell, Rossi, MacLean, Lamb, Latto.

Subs: Reid, Kivlichan, McGill