St Rochs hit the Rocks as Bot Batter Glasgow Greeens

Auchinleck Talbot 5 St Rochs 0

The Bot really are a very very good side. In a football environment where in many cases the players kick each other off the park and the pitches are in a poor condition the men from Auchinleck try to play slick passing football. This involves trusting their collective ability to control the ball quickly and to see and play a good pass. As a team they have these attributes and with their 'ginger magician' Spence controlling proceedings in a manner that strikes me as being a cross between a traffic policeman and a quarterback, they are a formidable outfit.

On a wet pitch that cut-up during the game they over-whelmed their visitors from Glasgow. A large crowd (difficult to estimate but probably around 500) looked on appreciatetively. Their match in Musselburgh in the previous round saw some of the 'fans' getting a bit agitated - here the locals watched on in quiet appreciation as their favourites scored at regular intervals to run out as easy winners. Spence was the man of the match. An authoritative performance in the centre of midfield and a well taken hat-trick too. I can't understand why this lad is not playing at a higher level. Having seem him also play at Tynecastle and play well their in the company of SPL players it is clear he could do well at SFL Div 1 level - easily.

The only noisy stuff from the crowd came from a samll section of inebriated St Rochs fans who sang their way through the match. The problem I had with this was that most of the songs were Celtic songs (what have they got to do with Junior football) and that many of their chosen ditties contained sweary words. I am no prude but why do kids going to see a Junior Cup tie with their parents have to endure a dozen or so drunken men singing "F**k the SFA" ?

Pie good - not sampled the lentil soup yet - but possibly in the quarter final

Journey Miles

Road Miles

Down to the last 16 and off to Ayrshire again

Following their excellent away at Musselburgh in round four, Auchinleck Talbot host St Rochs from Glasgow in the round of the last 16 - getting serious now.

Looking forward to popping through to East Ayrshire for this one later today. Look out for some very grainy pics which will be taken on my phone as I have left my camera in Boston Lincs.

Bot Bash Mussy to ease into round 5

The journey got a bit tasty a week ago in Musselburgh when the local team took on the curent Junior Cup holders in a repeat of last season's Junior Cup Final. The match attracted a big crowd - difficult to estimate the exact number but probably approaching 1000. The crowd were up for it and the players were up for it too. A feisty encounter with 1 sent off and 2 carried off. Enough incident and talking points to keep Sky and TalkSport staff occupied for weeks.

First time I have noticed a police presence on the 'road' and I do believe they were called into action with a little bit of banter-plus between some of the more animated supporters of the rival teams becoming a cause for concern.

The match has been very well described as follows on the Talbot web site :

Highlights for me were: (i) hearing [as at Tynecastle] the Bot supporters singing "Eeka Peeka Pukka Po" to the tune of Bread Heaven and (ii) the Musselburgh goalie being carried off on the back of the trainer and as he went past the Bot fans they very unsportingly sang 'Cheerio Cheerio Cheerio' and he was keen to get off the back of his human transport and remonstrate with the singers.

Another highlight - the Musselburgh pie ... a culinary thing of beauty and a bargain at £1.10. The usual muttony texture but a lot more meat than usual in the filling and a nice peppery aftertaste.

I also saw Auchinleck a fortnight earlier in the Scottish Cup at Tynecastle when they gave a very good account of themselves and they play good passing football and could compete successfully in the SFL without doubt.

It's Musselburgh v Auchinleck in round 4

Happy New Year everyone ...

The draw for round 4 of the Junior Cup was made in Glasgow on the 15th December and could not have been kinder to me in terms of making the 'road to Hampden' easy to travel down. My 'new' team (The Bot !) have been drawn to play Musselburgh in the 'Honest Toun' on Saturday the 21st January 2012. Musselburgh is only 10 miles from my home town of Penicuik. The tie is also a repeat of last season's Junior Cup Final so it has all the makings of a classic encounter. Looking forward to it !

I will be seeing the Bot in action before then however as they will be playing Hearts at Tynecastle this coming Saturday in the Scottish Cup .... as a season ticket holder at Tynie I am looking forward to that too.

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