First game of 2022/23 season today with Spartans playing East Fife in a pre-season friendly. I had ordered yt season ticket online and got a text saying that it would be available for collection st the office when I arrived attar Ainslie Park. I left home at 13.40:to walk to the ground along the old railway path and arrived there just after 14.30. I went to the turnstile and let through  free of charge to pick up my season ticket. I then wandered up to the bar and picked up a Coke  before the match started. No programmes were on sale for a pre-season friendly. Disappointingly no teamsheets or tannoy team announcements were made.  Spartans manager Dougie Samuel recently stated i the press that he needed a settled defence for the forthcoming season given the number of defenders who had been used last season. Keeper Blair Carswell returned to the side after injury issues last year as did defender Mikey Allan. Two new signings were also include...

  Well it’s Sunday and the last competitive game in the East of Scotland takes place today. It is the final of the Lowland League cup between Tranent Juniors and Linlithgow Rose at New Victoria Park in Newtongrange. An early kick-off at 13.00 in anticipation of Scotland playing Wales in a World Cup play-off in Cardiff at 17.00. Sadly Ukraine will take the place of Scotland but the final kick-off time remains unchanged meaning an early start to get to Newtongrange. I decided to walk for as I could be bothered. I walked to Moredun, 6.3 miles, before jumping on a 29 to Newtongrange at 11.40. The bus arrived in Newtongrange at 11.55. I had a walk around. Newtongrange Park before heading to the ground at 12.15. I paid  my £5 entry and one once inside bought a £2 programme. After a walk  round the ground which is an excellent non league venue, see photos below, I headed back to the entrance where I met Jim. We decided to stand in the sunshine opposite the covered enclosure and ...

  A beautiful day today and I decided to head out to Whitburn for the King Cup final. The cup is now contested by teams below the East of Scotland Premier League and the final today is between Herriot Watt University and Livingston United. I was quite lucky as the X27 bus goes direct to Whitburn along the West Approach Road and I decided to catch the 12.03 bus which was scheduled to arrive in Whitburn about 13.30 ahead of the 14.00 kick-off. The journey was not too bad as we went out by Dalmahoy and then through Mid and East Calder. However once the bus got to Livingston things changed as we went through areas of LivinI had never heard of before. We finally hit both Almondvale and St Johns hospital before another magical  mystery tour. After going through Seafield (not the one at Portobello) and Blackburn (not the Lancashire version) the bus finally arrived in Whitburn. I set my phone to let me know when we arrived at Whitburn Cross . Got of there and walked to the ground in E...

  It’s Sunday and another cup final. Today it is the East of Scotland Qualifying Cup between Linlithgow Rose and Gala Fairydean Rovers at the neutral Penicuik Park. The Qualifying Cup used to provide an opportunity for the finalists to compete for the East of Scotland Shield against  SPFL sides. Previously the shield was contested against Edinburgh City and. Berwick Rangers. With Berwick now in the Lowland League I assume that they will be replaced by SPFL newcomers  Bonnyrigg Rose. I left home at 12.10 to catch the 12.28 bus to Penicuik. However due to the Edinburgh Marathon today bus timetables were out of the window. As I crossed Lothian Road to the bus stop I saw a 47 to Penicuik coming up Lothian Road. I crossed to the bus stop and met Alan there. The 47 arrived after a couple of minutes and we got on for Penicuik. When we got into Lauriston Place we spotted another 47 just ahead of our bus. The two buses played leapfrog all the way to Penicuik and we arrived at the ...

  Very few games locally today but I decided to head to Peffermill to watch Leith Athletic v Haddington Atletic. For a long time rhis looked like an East of Scotland Conference A title decider. However Leith have fallen away over the past few weeks and Haddington have clinched the league and promotion to the Premier Division next season. I left home around 13.30 to walk to Op Peffermill. After walking through Marchmont , Causewayside and Prestonfield I arrived at the ground at 14.35. After paying my £4 entry fee I headed to the perimeter fence opposite the dugouts where I met Alan. There were no programmes on sale today and Alan told me that the programme editor was ill and no programmes had been issued for recent games. Our peace was shattered after the arrival of a crowd of guys from Newmachar  United. With their season finished they had come down from Aberdeen for a weekend away and certainly seemed to be enjoying themselves. They had brought a carry-out into the ground and...

  Today is the first day of the playoffs for promotion the the Lowland League so I headed out to Tranent for their game against St. Cuthbert’s Wanderers. The okay-offs are between the winners of the East of Scotland Premier League, Tranent, the South of Scotland League, St Cuthbert Wanderers, and the West of Scotland Oremier League, Darvel. Each team has one gphome and won away match in the three team tournament. In the event of a drawn match penalties will decide the winners with a further point being awarded to the winners of the shoot-out. I walked down to Haymarket to catch the 13.00 104 bus to Tranent. When the bus got to Abbeyhill Alex got on and we were chatting till we got to Tranent. We got off in the High Street around 14.00 and Alex went to a cafe for lunch. I had eaten before I left home so decided to head for the ground where the gates were still shut. It was then I checked on Twitter and found out the kickoff was at 15.00. I decided to go for a walk and returned to th...

  This is it, the big day, the Scottish Cup Final. The first thing peg I did after the semi-final win over Hibs was to book the Megabus for the final. I am booked on the 10.00 bus to Glasgow and 19.00 back home, in case of extra time and penalties delaying the end of the match. Woke up feeling a bit queasy (cup Final nerves  ?)  and decided to forgo breakfast before walking to the bus station in St Andrew’s Square. I arrived just as the 9.45 bus was leaving and waited until the 10.00 bus started loading at 9.55. I showed my booking confirmation and concession card to the driver and took a seat upstairs next to a window. My return trip cost me £1 in booking fees as the fare was covered by my concession card as it was a scheduled service. The journey out was slow with further pickups at Princes Street, Haymarket and Corstorphine meaning the bus was full by the time we got into the M8 at the Newbridge roundabout. There was one stop, at Harthill, where a few people got off be...