Fullarton Park (Bellshill Athletic v Greenock Juniors)

Regular readers of my blog may have wondered what was going on as I had not updated the site for four weeks. I have been quite busy with work and there was the small matter of a fortnight-holiday on Majorca from which I returned today. I will post reports and pictures of the matches I have seen during the last few weeks in the next few days.

Four weeks ago tomorrow I decided to see Bellshill Athletic's first home game of the season against Greenock Juniors. I had seen Bellshill getting humped 7-3 by St. Roch's on the previous Saturday in a cracking game and I was wondering how they would bounce back from that. Athletic have experienced two successive relegations in the last couple of seasons and if the result at Provanmill Park was anything to go by it may be another difficult season for the team originally from North Lanarkshire. I say 'originally' since they will be playing their home games at Fullarton Park in Tollcross, the home of Vale of Clyde, from this season. The good thing for me is that it makes it easy to see another football match when I am shopping in Glasgow with my wife...

This was my second visit to Fullarton Park. I was at Vale of Clyde v Clydebank last season and somehow managed to arrive 17 minutes after kick-off. This time it was even worse: I had made a last-minute decision to visit this match and was a bit unlucky with the bus from Paisley to Glasgow city centre. I never had to wait for the number 62 from the Argyle Street to Tollcross but by the time I arrived at the ground the game had been 40 minutes old and I had missed two goals. I still had to pay the full price to get in however (£4) but was pleasantly surprised to find out a programme was issued for this game (£1). As you can tell from the pictures, the attendance was poor, I think there were about 60 fans inside the ground. When the referee blew the half-time whistle (score 1-1) I walked to the bar and bought a bottle of Miller, it was a relatively sunny day in Scotland and was going to make the most of it.

Bellshill were struggling again today but it was not as bad as the performance at Provanmill Park a week earlier. Greenock's John Carter scored his second of the day (apparently...) 18 minutes into the second half and the Inverclyde team were deserved winners, at least judging from the second half.

For the 2011/12 season Bellshill have struck a ground share agreement with Vale of Clyde.


Not many fans from either team on the crumbling terrace. Fullarton Park is not the most impressive junior ground but it is one I really like for some reason. The beers (cold and cheap) definitely help!


Not many people in the enclosure either.


Bellshill were not as poor as in the previous week.


Bellshill under pressure in the second half.


Moments before the final whistle: Greenock are hanging in there, some tempers are flaring.

Saturday 13th August 2011
Central District First Division
Bellshill Athletic 1 Greenock Juniors 2
Bellshill: Currie 17.
Greenock: Carter 39, 63.
Att: 60

Ravenscraig Stadium (Greenock Juniors v Thorniewood United)

On Saturday I saw my first game at Ravencraig Stadium in Greenock, a ground I have been passing by on my way to work for the last ten years but I had never seen it from inside. Ravenscraig is the home ground of both Greenock Juniors and Port Glasgow Juniors. It is also an athletics stadium with a running track and a large stand which seats about 650 spectators. Unlike Dam Park in Ayr, which I visited two weeks ago, this athletics venue is in a terrible state of disrepair. I just found out however that Ravenscraig is about to undergo a major refurbishment and Saturday's game was Greenock's last at the stadium for the time being. I am glad I was still able to take a few pictures of the 'old' Ravenscraig but the refurbishment, which is set to start this week, looked long overdue.

The game I saw on Saturday was an encounter in the Central District First Division, the third tier in the West Region set-up of the Scottish Juniors. Home team Greenock Juniors were playing Thorniewood United of Uddingston in Lanarkshire. It was a very entertaining six-goal thriller and it was a shame only about 50 people, many of them supporting Thorniewood, turned out to see it. I do not know what kind of numbers Port Glasgow Juniors usually attract in terms of home support, however looking at the distance between Ravenscraig and the town of Port Glasgow it cannot be much more than that either. Despite the small crowd there were still pies and Bovril (but no tea or coffee) on sale during the interval. After the game I headed to Branchton train station again, a ten-minute walk, for the 25-minute train journey back to Paisley.

Approaching Ravenscraig Stadium.


The stand seen from outside. It is in dire need of a bit of TLC...

The stand holds about 650.

Wooden benches in the stand.

The view from the stand. Small terraces can be seen on the other side. The high-rise building that dominates the Greenock skyline is Inverclyde Royal Hospital.

Lee Mitchell scores for Greenock: 1-0.


Thorniewood's Steven Mullen scores the equaliser: 1-1.


Thorniewood take the lead after Chris Queen's scores: 1-2.


After the interval Greenock's Thomas Docherty equalises again: 2-2.


Thorniewood go 3-2 up again thanks to a Chris Lafferty free-kick.


Greenock player manager Stevie Mooney was then sent off after picking up a second booking...


...however Greenock still manage to draw level. Ryan MacDonald scores 3-3.

Saturday 19th March 2011
West Region Central District First Division
Greenock Juniors 3 Thorniewood United 3
Greenock: Mitchell 20, Docherty 54, MacDonald 80.
Thorniewood: Mullen 22, Queen 32, Lafferty 56.
Att: 50 (est.)