11th April 2023. Penicuik Athletic 1 Tynecastle 1
With Alex away watching Manchester City v Bayern Munich and Jim looking to go and watch Brechin v Fraserburgh tonight I was on my own for a trip out to Penicuik tonight where Penicuik Athletic were meeting Tynecastle in a match postponed a few weeks ago. I checked my bus app and saw that a 47 bus, which takes a direct route, was due at Lothian Road, at 18.13, arriving in Penicuik at 19.02 in plenty time for the 19.30 kickoff. I left home after an early meal at 17.55 to head to the bus stop at Lothian Road. I was crossing Lothian Road at 18.05 when a 47 drew up at the stop. Thankfully there were a number of people getting on and I was able to catch the bus. With it being rush hour the bus was busy with a number of passengers boarding and alighting en route. I got off the bus at Tesco in Penicuik, a couple of stops before Penicuik Park and walked, in light rain, the short distance to the ground, arriving at 19.05. I paid my £5 admission and entered the ground where my old work colleague John was handling the programme sales. With a match last Saturday and the Easter break Penicuik had produced a double issue programme covering Saturdays match against Oakley in addition to tonights fixture for £3 against their normal £2 charge The rain was now getting heavier and I walked round to the covered terracing where I met Andy and Gwen. We stood chatting about football as the players warmed up in what can only be described as a monsoon.
After a victory over Oakley on Saturday Penicuik manager Callum Elliot looked to rotate his squad. A number of players who would normally be in the starting eleven such as David Edwards, Gregor Lamb and Aaron Somerville were on the substitutes bench. Recent signing Lewis Turner who has played for a number of clubs including Newtongrange, Musselburgh, Bonnyrigg and Gretna was included in midfield. Elliot, who has only been manager for a few weeks, is looking to assess his squad for next season as Penicuik are no longer in the promotion or relegation positions. Tynecastle, under new manager Rob Hart, have hit a good run of form lately and are now no longer in the bottom three, who will be relegated at the end of the season. However they are only one point ahead of Hill of Beath Hawthorn and need to maintain their good form. Tyencastle included Liam O'Donnell, a recent signing from Penicuik, in their starting lime-up. Up front their main goal scoring threat comes from Ryan Cameron who is a consistent goal scorer at the East of Scotland League level.
With the rain continued to pour down both sides were unwilling to take risks and the early part of the game was mostly played in midfield with no real goalmouth action. After twenty-two minutes Penicuik lost keeper Bob Watt to injury. Watt had been our injured earlier in the season and with no obvious reason for the injury I wonder if this was a recurrence of the previous problem. Watt was replaced by substitute keeper Kyle Leiper. Leiper was previously with Tynecastle so he would be familiar with some of the opposition. Penicuik came more into the game after the change of keeper and Matty Combe shot just wide from the edge of the penalty box. The first goal of the game came in thirty minutes after a good move down the right involving Andy Forbes and Turner. Forbes moved the ball inside to Turner who fed it through to Cammy Fraser in the penalty area. Fraser took the ball forward to a yard outside the edge of the six yard box on the right before firing a low shot across the goal area into the far corner of the net giving Tynecastle keeper Murray Jackson no chance of making a save. Alex Chingwalu and Andy Mair were linking well down the left for Penicuik but the final balls were dealt with well by the Tynecastle defence. Just before halftime. Chingwalu had a chance when he ran onto a flick from Fraser but his shot was straight at Jackson.
I don’t know what manager Hart said to his Tynecastle players at halftime but with the rain still pouring down his team came out with a different attitude and looked far more positive. They were causing the Penicuik defence problems and equalised after fifty six minutes. Fullback Blake Wales passed a ball from the right to Sean Linden in the penalty area. The forward turned to get away from the Penicuik defence and sent a low shot past Leiper for a deserved equaliser. Minutes later he had another chance as he raced onto a long ball but Leiper got down well to block his shot. Both sides made a number of substitutions before Tynecasle had a claim for a penalty. O'Donnell raced into the penalty area and went down after a clash with Paul Thompson. The referee blew his whistle and I thought he had awarded a penalty but the free-kick went to Penicuik with O'Donnell receiving a yellow card for diving. Penicuik had a late chance when substitute Somerville blazed a shot over the bar from about fifteen yards.
I left Andy and Gwen and moved round towards the exit as the match moved into injury time as there was a bus due in three minutes and I did not want the miss it and have to wait half an hour in pouring rain for the next. The match was still going on as I left but finished 1-1, a fair result given the conditions. I caught a 37 bus back to Edinburgh and got off at Surgeons Hall, then walked through to Lauriston where I caught a 12 to Lothian Road and walked home from there arriving at 22.20. I then settled down to watch a recording of Masterchef which put a fine ending to a good evening for me, despite the rain.
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