3rd August 2022 Edinburgh South 0 Heriot Watt University 3

 

Away to Paties Road tonight but not to watch Edinburgh United. Edinburgh South had previously been sharing Kings Park with Dalkeith Thistle under a leasing arrangement. However Thistle have ended the arrangement under a break clause in the lease as they no longer wish to share Kings Park with another Community Football Club.Edinburgh Sot are now homeless and has reached an agreement with Edinburgh United to share Paties Road until they can find a new ground of their own. A few sites have been identified but the major stumbling block is the cost of building a stadium which would meeting SFA licensing requirements. South are hoping to be able to use part of Inch park, near Cameron Toll, but we will need to watch for developments. I left home to catch a bus at 16.42 which was late but I still arrived at Redford Barracks are 19.00. I walked along Elliot  Road and down to parties Road. I paid my £3 admission charge and also bought a couple of strips of raffle tickets before taking a seat in the stand. No programmes were available and also no team announcements were made. I was able to find the Edinburgh line-up on social media but unable to find the full University line-up. Just before the match started I saw Jamie entering the ground. Jamie is a Liverpool fan and also edits the Bonnyrigg match programme. He joined me in the stand to watch the match. 

Edinburgh South struggled last season and following re-orgamnisation of the East of Scotland League set-up are now in the Second Division, the eighth tier in the Scottish football pyramid. The started the season under a new manager, Ainslie Hunter who has retired from playing to take over the management responsibility. They have signed a number of new players including goalkeeper Ross Gilpin (formerly with Spartans among others) and Sean Brennan (Craigroyston and Dalkeith Thistle). Among those retained from last seasons squad are Jordan Croply, son of former Hibs star Alex and last seasons top scorer Stuart Martin. Heriot Watt University (HWU) are also in the second division but would be considered unlucky not to have been one off the clubs retained in the first division at the end of last season. Under long-serving coach Banji Koya the are well organised and play some attractive football. I saw them earlier this season in a friendly against Whitehall and was very impressed by their centre forward Nandom Domyil. I did some research and found that one of their ex-players was Adam Crozier, former chief executive of the English FA.

The game started with HWU looking the better set and Domyil showing plenty pace and skill upfront. Edinburgh lost Declan Roose through injury early in the game and he was replaced by Ross Connell. HWU took the lead around the half hour mark with a fine goal from Domyil. He raced onto a long ball and rounded the diving Gilpin before netting. The second goal came around five minutes later after HWU were awarded a free-kick near the right touchline around thirty yards from goal. The ball was flighted in towards the near post where Craig Smith was left unmarked to score from just outside the six yard box. 

There was a slight delay to the start of the second half as both teams came out but no sign of the female referee who had controlled the game well. After a short time she came out and ran to an Edinburgh official and handed him a key. As I had heard a woman shouting before the match that the ladies was locked and she would have to get the key I think the reason for the delayed restart was obvious. HWU continued to control the game and despite both sides using a number of substitutes the result was never n doubt. A fourth goal arrived around seventy-five minutes. A corner was cleared by the Edinburgh defence to Kieran Richmond just outside the penalty area on the left. He took a touch and then fired a shot at goal which hit the far post and bounced into the net. South had a chance when a shit from outside the area hit the woodwork and bounced out. The ball fell at the feet of ‘Yogi’ Hughes who was unable to control the ball and allowed the HWU defence to clear. With no floodlights at Paties Road the last fifteen minutes of the game were played in a gathering gloom and I think any further mid-week games may require an early start to finish in daylight. 

After the final whistle I walk up Elliot Road to the 10 bus stop. The bus was due in ten minutes so I decided to walk up to the main road where I could also get a 4 or a 27. No such luck as I ended up in the 10 as I had just missed the other buses. Nevertheless I was home just before 22.00.

Teams

Edinburgh South: Gilpin, Riley, Brady, Brennan, Gill, Breeze, Martin, Scott, Quinn, Cropley, Roose.

Subs: Connell, Pritchett,Smith, Hassan.

Heriot Watt University: Kennedy,,,Wishart,,Stewart, Smith, Domyil,,Richmond.

Subs: