29th October2022. Leith Athletic 1 Whitehill Welfare 1

 

With Hearts league match at Ross County. being moved to Sunday given the Europa Conference game on Thursday I had a free football day today. I had thought of going to Dingwall for the Ross County game but the move to Sunday snookered that. A number of trains have been cancelled due to industrial action going to Inverness to get a connection to Dingwall  and going back the only option is a rail but costing £89 ! I thought about going  to watch Hearts B v Stirling University at Rosewell but with the weather not being that great I did not fancy going all the way there and finding the game had been postponed. I decided to go to Meadowbank and watch Leith Athletic v Whitehill Welfare. With the kickoff being at 14.30 I left home around 13.20 and walked down to Haymarket to catch a bus to Meadowbank. A 4 arrived after a couple of minutes to head to Meadowbank. I had forgotten about the Scotland v Australia rugby international being also on today. The city centre was packed and slowed the bus down. However I arrived at Meadowbank around 14.05. I walked to the entrance gate and paid my £4 concession entry. Normally Leith issue a programme but the were none on sale today. The programme editor had been ill last season and issues stopped. Issues resumed at the start of this season and I wonder if there has been a recurrence of his illness. 

Both sides are in the East of Scotland League First Division. Leith are currently in mid-table while Whitehall are in the relegation zone as three clubs will go down at the end of the season. With no programmes, team sheets, tannoy announcements or social media updates I knew nothing about the Leith side although I thought I recognised a few  players from previous matches. I had watched Whitehall in a pre-season friendly and thought they wee a poor side. However the appointment of a new manager , Jack Lynch previously with Preston Athletic, to replace Andrew Kidd who resigned has brought an upturn in fortunes. A new of new signings have been made and Whitehall are looking to move up he league table. 

Th match started with Whitehall going most of the attacking. Sean Hancock had an early chance when he went through on the left but he was ruled offside by the referee. This was one of the EoS matches with no linesmen and I have to feel sorry for the referee. He has to judge offsides with no support and is unable to take action on incidents behind his back giving the club officials running the touchlines can on judge on throw-ins. Whitehall took the lead after around twenty-five minutes. Again the goal came from a break on the left. Two shots were blocked by the Leith defence before the ball broke to Ryan Weir around six yards out at the far post. He had no problems shooting home to put the away side ahead. Fyn Connor had terrific shot from outside the penalty area minutes later but his shot hit the bar and flew out of play behind the goal. Whitehall lost centre forward Nathan Stokes with a muscle injury before the break and he was replaced by Ty O'Neill. Whitehill continued to press forward but were unable to extend their lead and went at halftime with a 1-0 lead. 

The second half started with Leith coming more into the game although they were unable to create many clear chances. Reece Pollock In the Whitehill goal only really had one save to make when he pushed a shot over the bat. However he seemed to have a propensity to wander out of his box and this was causing the Whitehill fans sone concern given the opportunities available to Leith.  One thing beginning to annoy me was the number of players screaming at the referee ‘ He won the ball’ after a free kick was awarded, Do they not realise that if the follow through from a tackle is dangerous then it is a free kick despite winning the ball initially. The Leith number 5 was particularly vociferous in his protests and ended up being yellow carded. Leith eventually equalised after eight minutes. A corner was swung in from the left and headed home by the Leith number 4. I later found out this was Craig Hume who had previously played for Penicuik and Tranent among others. Both seems seemed happy with a draw and the game petered out into a point apiece.

After the final whistle I headed out of the ground and just missed a 26 bus. I walked up to Meadowbank Retail Park and caught a 34. Despite being caught in the rugby crowds in Princes Street I was home by 17.00 and settled down to watch the rugby from Murrayfield. Scotland lost 16-15 to Australian despite an excellent performance by former Hearts academy player Blair Kinghorn at stand-off. 

Teams

Leith Athlettic: N/A

Whitehill Welfare : Pollock, Collins, Shyngle, Dowie, Devers, Stokes, Weir, Hancock, Wilson, Thomson, Connor.

Subs: O’Neill. Ireland.