24th April 2022 Edinburgh South 2 Newburgh 1

 

A nice sunny Sunday afternoon and what better way to spend it than watching football. I could have stayed home and watched on Sky but decided to head out to Dalkeith to watch Edinburgh South v Newburgh in the East of Scotland League. I walked down to Haymarket and caught a number 3 bus, arriving at around 14.10 ahead of the 14.30 kickoff. South ground-share with Dalkeith Thistle at Kings Park and while I have been there before to watch Thistle this was my first time to watch their tenants. I walked across Kings Park towards the ground to find the gates locked. I met the father of one of the Newburgh players who had walked round the ground and could not find an open entrance. We peered through the fence to see the players warming up and saw an open gate near the dressing rooms. We walked back to the main road and took a walk down a road on the right to find a car park which lead to an entrance to the ground. As I was walking through the car park I met a former work colleague, Martin. He was at the match to monitor the performance of the referee. Martin was a former SPL referee and acts as both a refereeing supervisor and a mentor to younger referees. I paid my £4 entry fee and wandered into the ground. No programmes or team sheets were on offer although I managed to find both sides lineups on social media.

Edinburgh South have been active in juvenile football since the 1960’s and started a senior side for the aborted 2020/21 season. The senior side is composed mainly of young players although there is a core of experienced players. Blair Tolmie,  Ainslie Hunter and Sean Jamieson have all played at higher levels within the Scottish pyramid. Hunter was in my eldest sons class at primary school and now has a grey beard with hair the same shade. It shows we are all getting older ! Newburgh were former in 1887 and were active in Fife junior football until moving into the senior pyramid in 2020. They were reasonably successful in the junior level but are finding the senior level tougher. 

Just before the game kicked off I walk across to the covered terracing and met Martin again. We stayed chatting for the rest of the game and it was interesting to get a referees view on the match. Given there were no linesmen the referee had a more difficult job, especially when it came to offside decisions and I thought he handled the game well. Newburgh had most of the early play but did not really trouble Lewis Whitelaw in the Edinburgh goal. Edinburgh went ahead after thirty-five minutes against the run of play. After a break down the right a low cross into te penalty area was turned into the net by Stuart Martin. The score remained unchanged at halftime. 

The second half had its moments of controversy and the first came when the referee awarded an offside against Edinburgh. With no linesmen and the referee behind play the decision was tight but from where I was standing looked correct. The Edinburgh bench did not agree and one individual in particular launched a torrent if  colourful abuse at the referee. The referee was not happy and showed the individual a red card as he ordered him off the touchline. In the fifty-first minute Newburgh equalised. A forward was fouled just outside the Edinburgh penalty area. Rory Marshall took the free-kick and curled a shot over the wall into the top corner of the net. Edinburgh regained the lead in sixty-four minutes when Donovan Ndiweni broke clear down the left. His shot from just inside the box was parried by Whitelaw in the Newburgh goal. However the ball tan to the supporting Martin who shot home to give Edinburgh a 2-1 advantage. Newburgh pressed for an equaliser but their hopes ended when substitute Lewis Caulfield was shown a red card after eighty-two minutes. He committed a bad foul on a defender out near the touchline and continued to protest after being shown a yellow card as Edinburgh looked to move the ball forward to take the free-Kirk. A second yellow and subsequent red lead to his dismissal. The Newburgh bench were incensed at the referees decision and one of the coaching staff rushed onto the field to kick the ball back to where the offence occurred while passing comments to the referee about his decision. This lead to a second red card for coaching staff during the game. The final whistle blew shortly thereafter on what had been a tough although not a dirty game with seven yellow and three red cards.

After the game Martin offered me a lift back to Edinburgh. We walked across to the dressing rooms where I waited outside while he went in to have a chat with the referee about his performance. As I waited the Edinburgh coach who had been red-carded came out mouthing loudly that he was ‘ going to appeal the f****** red card. I mentioned this to Martin when he came out and we both agreed he had no chance unless he toned down his language. We back in in Edinburgh quickly and I was home by 17.00.

Teams

Edinburgh South : Whitelaw, Riley, Kerr, Hunter, Addison, Noiweni, Stewart, Aitchison, Scott, Martin, Jamieson.

Subs; Ashraf

Newburgh: Robertson, Johal, Doyle, Cameron, Kirkham, Byrne, Stapleton, Reade, Perry, Marshall, Ferguson.

Subs: Caulfield, Stevenson, Harper