17th July 2022 Bonnyrigg Rose 1 Hibs 4

 

Another footballing first today with Bonnnrigg playing their first home game as an SPFL club following their.victory in the playoffs at the end of last season. I had gone out to Bonnyrigg and couple of weeks ago to get tickets for todays game and also th following midweek game against Falkirk. Jim was not sure if he could go due to family circumstances so I got tickets for me a Alex. I wandered down to Haymarket to catch the 12.25 31 bus to Bonnyrigg and thankfully I was early as the bus arrived at 12.40. I got on and then found out that due to the Edinburgh Festival Parade the bus was diverted along George Street rather than the usual route long Princes Street. Eventually we got to Newington where Alex got on. We stayed on the bus to Bonnyrigg bit got off at Broomieknwe as we were early. We then walked into the town centre although we were stopped by a guy asking where the Paper Mill was. He was an old friend of Alex and I directed him back to the pub opposite the Laird and Dog. We then walked into the centre of Bonnyrigg stopping off for a coffee at Greggs before arriving at the ground around 14.00. We checked out theses stop for going back given it was likely that there would be busy buses gong home and decided to walk to the Waverley hotel for the bus home given most people would have headed to Bonnyrigg Toll. 

Bonnyrigg  had won their first group stage match away to Clyde on Wednesday and have made two additions to their squad. Josh Grigor a defender who was with Stenhousemuir last season has signed  short-term deal while winger Zach Khan has been promoted to the first  team squad from the U20s side. Unfortunately midfielder Lee Currie will be missing for a few weeks having undergone a hernia operation. Hibs now under the managership of Lee Johnson and Jamie McAllister, both former Hearts players,  have made a number of changes to their squad for the forthcoming season. Signings include former Scotland keeper  David Marshall (Previously with Derby County), Lewis Miller (Central Coast mariners), Rocky Bushiri (Norwich City), Marijan Cabraja (Olimpija Ljubljana), Jair Tavares (Benfica B), Nohan Kenneh (Leeds United), Aiden McGeady (Sunderland), Ewan Henderson (Celtic), Momodou Bojang (Rainbow FC, loan), And Elie Youan (St. Gallen. loan). Work permits and international clearance are still in course for some of these players so they will be unavailable for todays match. 

The last time Bonnyrigg met his they suffered an 8-1 Scottish Cup defeat in 2017. To have any chance of a shock result Bonnyrigg had a defend well and prevent its from scoring an early goal. Unfortunately the plan went out the window after 1 minute and 43 seconds. Chris Cadden and McGeady linked well on the right and when a low cross came into the penalty area Kerr Younfg looked to clear the ball. Unfortunately the clearance was deflected off another defender to Hibs Joe Newell on the left hand side of thearea. He took a touch to control the ball then shot low across keeper Mark Weir into the far corner of the net to give Hibs the lead. Other than a strong run by George Hunter where he nutmegged Ryan Porteous before being locked by the Hibs defence Bonnyrigg were under the cosh as the first half continued. After ten minutes Hibs were awarded a penalty when Jonny Stewart tackled Christian Diodge from behind on the edge of the penalty area. Despite Doidge's momentum carrying him outside of the penalty area as he fell the referee was right to award the kick. McGeady stepped up to take the kick but after some words with keeper Weir the forward screwed his attempt wide of the right hand post. Weir continued to be heavily involved in the action as Hibs passed forward. First the keeper did well to get down and push away an overhead kick for Erik Melkersen before parrying a Dodge shot seconds later. He also did well to stop a shot from Henderson as he cut into the penalty area from the left. The match was then stopped for six minutes as paramedics and both teams medical staff helped to give attention to a fan who had collapsed in the covered area. He was taken away on a stretcher after suffering what was believed to be dehydration. As the match moved into the added own time Hibs scored a second. A low cross into the box found Henderson and he showed good composure to skip past two defenders before shooting low past Weir. Surprisingly Bonnyrigg scored almost straight from the kick when Smith found space on the outside of Ryan Porteous and sent an excellent lobbed attempt over Marshall not the net from about fifteen yards on the right of the penalty area. His then scored a third when Newell knock home a cross from close range just before the referee blew the halftime whistle. 

With a 3-1 lead His were content to play out the second half and both sides made a number of substitutions which broke up the play. The appearance of Kieran McGachie gave Bonnyrigg more of a physical presence up front but this was countered by the power of Bushiri and Porteous in the centre of the Hibs defence. There was yet another stoppage for a spectator to receive medical attention. Again the victim was taken off on a stretcher after suffering from dehydration. This lead to the referee adding on an additional nine minutes beyond the ninety. During this period Newell gathered a pass from Melkerson and sent the ball to Henderson on the edge of the penalty area. He looked up and curled a shot into the top corner of Weir's net for a fourth goal.

After the match lex and I walked down to the Waverley Hotel and caught a 31 bus back into town after a six minute wait. Surprisingly the bus was not full although fans were still coming-out of the ground as the bus headed towards Bonnyrigg Toll and then on to Edinburgh. I arrived home just after 18.00 after what had been a good day out in the sunshine.

Teams

Bonnyrigg Rose: Weir, Brett, Martynuik, Young, Grigor, Connolly, S. Gray, Stewart, Hunter, Doan, Smith

Subs: McGachie, Turner, R. Gray, Barrett,Hall.

Hibs, Marshall, Cadden, Stevenson, Bushiri, Porteous, Kenneth,  McGeady, Henderson, Doidge, Melkersen, Newell. 

Subs:  Miller, Campbell, Bojang,  McClelland, Blaney.