Auchinleck Talbot 6 Penicuik Athletic 0

So inevitably it was the end of the road for the Cuikey. Talbot are a very fine side and as better teams than Penicuik have discovered they have quick, strong, skilfull players - good defenders and mobile midfielders and forwards who have an eye for goal. They are the current Scottish Junior Cup holders and I imagine they will either retain their trophy or come close to doing so because it is hard to imagine that there are any better Junior teams out there. They may even give my beloved Hearts a few problems in the Scottish Cup in January.

The match started in driving rain of biblical proportions on a good pitch that did cut up as the afternoon wore on. In the first ten minutes the Cuikey keeper Bald made 4 fine saves (icluding a remarkable double save) to keep Athletic in the tie but by half time inevitably 'The Bot' had assetred their superiority with 3 goals. Three more followed in the second half but Penicuik were unlucky not to get a late consolation when sub Jonny Harvey cut in from the left and tested the Auchinleck onion-bag custodian with a rasping shot. The final score was a bit generous for the home side with two of the goals coming from a relatively soft penalty and an award of the fifth goal being confirmed by the linesman after the ref had judged that a drop by the Cuikey keeper Bald had crossed his own goal line - it had not. Perhaps 4-0 would have been kinder and more representative.

Half time provided a great non-league highlight when the Penicuik sub Dean Knight was spotted retreiving a ball from a local garden protected from the stadium by barbed wire at the top of it's perimeter fence. I am not sure how he got into the said garden but his exit route seemed to require him climbing over a few fences and going through a number of Auchinleck residential gardens.

The catering was of a reasonable standard with a nice greasy scotch pie costing only a quid. An interesting item on the menu was 'lentil soup' which on this occasion I did not sample but as I am likely to be back at 'The Bot' I will no doubt succumb to temptation on a future visit.

The journey was good and I was relieved to find out before I set off that the home of Talbot is not in Dumfriesshire but in East Ayrshire. I didn't realise that there were two Auchinlecks ! So, only the 64 miles to get there ! I am looking forward to returning in January if Talbot are drawn at home in the next round. This is a club with loads and loads going for it. A great infrastructure, a great wee stadium and a very good team.

Journey miles 128

Total Road to Hampden miles 372

Flipping heck ... I am off to Auchinleck !

The draw for round three of the SJFA Cup was made last week ... and ... it has paired Penicuik Athletic with the holders Auchinleck Talbot from darkest Dumfrieshire !

I will be attending the tie this Saturday (26th Nov) and I have a feeling that this may be the end of the road for the Cuikey ....

By coincidence my team Hearts have been drawn to play Talbot in the Scottish Cup in January so I think I will be seeing a lot of the men from Auchinleck over the next few months ...

SJFA Cup Round 2 Replay: Penicuik 4 Glasgow Perthshire 1

This is becoming a very enjoyable experience. If you have read the whole thing you will know that I was unsure whether I would continue with this ... until last week. A rainy day in Possilpark Glasgow a week past Saturday watching a 0-0 draw clinched the deal - I am now fully committed.

After a goall-less first game, the replay was a veritable goal fest. Penicuik won 4-1 and in truth could have won about 9-3. Lots of goal mouth action and some good goals. Penicuik's last three goals were scored Thomson, Cunnison and Gay (when I got back home after the first game on the 'road' with the match programme my daughter Mo was most amused that Penicuik had players Bald and Gay). Penicuik's first goal was an own goal when a fierce cross from Harvey was deflected past his own keeper by a forlorn Perthshire defender. Perthshire got a consolation goal late in the match.

The low-light of the match was seeing a stricken Perthshire leaving the pitch on a stretcher having sustained a broken ankle in what seemed to be an innocuous challenge with Penicuik's Dean White. The highlight for me was seeing some tremendous old-school response to heckling from the Glasgow centre forward Craig. In the 72nd minute with his team losing 2-0 Craig missed from the edge of the box. The young lad had previously annoyed both the players and fans of the Cuiky with some theatrical antics and verbals. After his miss the locals started braying some donkey noises from the terracing. In reply young Craig looked towards them and starting with an exaggerated pirouette of his right wrist he culminated the gesture with a firm, vivacious and strident V sign. No modern one-central-finger nonsense for this purveyor of the offensive gesture. Great stuff ! The referee was about 20 yards away with (I think) a good view of the incident but pretended not to see it.

Other ineteresting snippets: (i) the first match on the 'road' where I have not been 'Jimmy No Mates' - my son Brian was at the match with me - a pre-match pint in the Bellmans too; (ii) I now realise that Linesman in Civvies is not unusual in the Junior Cup - same here as in Glasgow last week; (iii) Good programme at Penicuik [no programmes at either Glenrothes or Perthshire]; (iv) sampled the Penicuik pie for the first time - nice one - and at a £1 a time good value - bovril good too.

Journey Miles 2

Total 'Road to Hampden' Miles 246

Glasgow Perthshire 0 Penicuik Athletic 0

So ... I made it ! A dreich day in Possilpark in the North of Glasgow. I know that this is Junior football but Keppoch Park (the home of Glasgow Perthshire) has to be the biggest dump of a football ground that I have ever visited. Hopefully the pics will convey what I mean. At odds with the surroundings the condition of the playing surface was actually quite good - although the pitch was quite small.

Not much happened in the first half but in the second period both teams had chances. Probably the best chance fell to the Penicuik skipper Johnny Harvey with 10 mins left. He rounded the keeper but left the angle too tight to slot the ball into an unguarded onion-bag and instead hit the side netting. Back to Penicuik for the replay next Saturday.

Other interesting snippets; (i) no official linesmen ! A couple of guys in jackets and jeans and normal shoes shuffling up and down the line while the rain fell (ii) pies ok and at £1 a throw not bad value; (iii) nice clubhouse with a load of penants from other junior teams on the wall.

Journey Miles 132 (inc detour - onto M8 - back to Hillend - then back on to M8 to Glasgow)

Total journey miles 246

The draw for round two and an unexpected link ...

The draw for round two was made last week and Penicuik Athletic have been drawn away to Glasgow Perthshire - tie to be played on Saturday October the 29th. So, this is make-or-break for this project as it takes place on the same day that Hearts play Killie at Tynecastle. As a season ticket holder at Tynie it will be decision time - if I I go to Glasgow I will stay with this thing until May 2013 - if I go to Tynie then the Road has turned out to be a cul-de-sac. If I go to Glasgow I will also start telling people about this blog ... which brings me on to an unexpected link.

On Saturday I went to see Hearts away at Dunfermline with my wife Anne, Mary Doll and Paul (more about these people later if this blog gets past Glasgow Perthshire) ... and also Kim Ogilvie. Kim was married to the 'Inspector' (see first post) and is the mother of Fraser Ogilvie. Now try to stay with this ... Fraser is married to Jade ... Jade's sister has just become a Mum and the father is Johnny Harvey - the Capatain and centre forward of Penicuik Athletic. Small world.

So we have a link from my Merchiston Hearts cronies and the 'Road to Hampden from Penicuik'. I think I may have to start telling people that I am writing this blog !

Glenrothes v Penicuik - the replay - 8th Oct 2011

Still wondering whether I am going to continue with this ... but at least I did make it to Glenrothes yesterday - just ! A traffic tailback from the Forth Road Bridge trailing back 5 miles and adding 90 minutes onto my journey meant that I nearly turned back (twice) and didn't get to Glenrothes until 3.30 with the ko scheduled for 2.30. The Penicuik team bus had the same problem and I arrived just after the visiting team. The match kicked off 75 minutes late at 3.45 and Penicuik won 3-0.

I actually left at half time (showing an early lack of committment to this project) as I wanted to get back for Scotland v Liechtenstein on the telly at 6.30 .. went back via the Kincardine Bridge to avoid the (still) 90 minute tailback. So I did not actually see the last (late) goal but the excellent Penicuik Athletic web site reports it as follows: "With Glenrothes pushing forward, they were caught short at the back by a ball from defence that picked out Roxburgh on the halfway line. He raced towards goal and slipped the ball to Draper who took one touch, looked up and as Collier rushed from goal chipped the ball over him into the net to seal the result". The first two goals were scored by Keith Barr. The first when he netted a parried save from his own penalty and the second when he tried a speculative long range shot and it somehow eluded the keeper's grasp. I missed the penalty as I was making a failed attempt to take a pic of it at the time.

Journey Miles (inc Kincardine Bridge detour) 114

Total Road to Hampden Miles 116

The First Match of the Journey

These blogs, or this book if it gets that far, are dedicated to the two greatest men I have known - both big football men and both now sadly no longer with us - George Willis Donkin and 'The Inspector' Graeme Ogilvie. Much more about those two guys much later.

OK .. hi everyone .. or someone depending on who is reading ...

On Saturday I started a journey (sounds very management / big society speak .. everyone is on a journey) to Hampden Park in May 2013 for tthe Scottish FA Cup Final. In the Scottish Cup the only non-league teams who can enter are the SFA member clubs or the Scottish Junior teams who win their three 'Super Leagues' or win the Scottish Junior Cup. So a nonentity Junior team such as Penicuik Athletic can only get into the Scottish Cup if they win the Junior Cup. So we start the story on Saturday the 1st October 2011 in my home town of Penicuik where the local team take on the might of Glenrothes in the first round of the SJFA Cup 2011-12. If all goes according to plan then the Cuiky will be playing Hearts in the Scottish FA Cup Final in May 2013. Probably won't happen ... but whatever I will be there ... because the aim of this 'journey' is to start with the Penicuik Athletic v Glenrothes game and to follow the winners until they get knocked out ... and then to follow the team that knocks out the winners until they get knocked out ... and so and so on and so on .. get the idea ? ... I hope so.

Penicuik Athletic 1 Glenrothes 1

Penicuik were the better side and opened the scoring halfway through the second half when captain John Harvey scored from close range after an outrageous bit of skill from Dean Knight had created the chance. Running into the box and being tracked by a defender who gave Knight seemingly nowhere to go the Penicuik winger essayed a bit of Ronaldo like footwork that all of a sudden put him in enough space to lay the goalscoring chance on a plate for Harvey. Well, not much laid on a plate - a knife and fork were provided too. Into stoppage time and with the Penicuik team running down the clock by fannying around near the corner flag the 'Glens' got posession and got the ball up the park. A seemingly innocuous cross from the right was then palmed into his own net by the Penicuik keeper Bald who apparently (I heard second hand a week later) was caught in two minds as to whether to catch or palm over the bar - he did neither. From my vantage point admittedly 100 yards away it looked like a ver bad own goal.

Penicuik Athletic v Glenrothes finished 1-1 so it is off to Glenrothes for the replay on Saturday the 8th October.

Journey Miles 2

Total Road to Hampden Miles 2