Meadow Park (Irvine Meadow XI v Livingston)

I had not updated my blog for exactly a month. One of the reasons is that I have not seen that many matches lately. I still have some pictures in the vault however which I will post in the next few weeks. I just have to make time to do it!

At the weekend the fourth round of the Scottish Cup was played and it featured a number of mouthwatering ties including Peterhead v Celtic, Arbroath v Rangers and Hearts v Auchinleck Talbot. I had not planned to see any football this weekend, also because the weather usually spoils things around this time of the year but it is now actually really mild for the time of the year. Still, the 'high winds' at Gayfield Park are never far away...

I did manage to see a third round Scottish Cup tie back in November. I made the short trip form Paisley to Irvine to see junior side Irvine Meadow XI, who qualified for the Scottish Cup as 2011 West Region Superleague winners, take on First Division team Livingston. Two season ago Medda eliminated Arbroath at this stage of the competition. Their reward was a glamour tie at Easter Road. Around 2,000 Irvine fans saw their team lose 3-0 to Hibs.

Few people expected the home side to repeat the feat of two years ago as Livingston are of a different calibre than Arbroath and it turned out that Livi were much too strong for the Ayrshire side. Marc McNulty, Livi's 19-year-old striker, needed less than five minutes to open the scoring. He added a second and a third to his tally but limped off with an ankle injury just after Rory Boulding had made it 4-0. Six minutes into the second half Kenny Deuchar scored the visitors' fifth. The home fans chanted "We're going to win 6-5" but Bobby Barr made sure it was a convincing scoreline for the West Lothian side as he scored 6-0 a minute before the end.

Not the most exciting game I had ever been to but always nice to see a packed junior ground. Highlight for many of the younger fans was probably the presence of Scotland and Everton striker James McFadden who for whatever reason decided to visit a junior club on a Saturday. I cannot blame as he probably does not get the opportunity on most Saturdays. After he was spotted by a clever local kid he was constantly signing autographs and posing for pictures and he seemed to be happy to do so for which he should be commended.

At the weekend all fourth round ties went ahead as planned by the way, even Arbroath v Rangers, which turned out to be a rather convincing 4-0 win for the Glasgow giants. Livingston had a disappointing result at home against fellow First Division side Ayr United. The Honest Men won 2-1 on Saturday and will play Falkirk in the fifth round, one week after their League Cup semi against bitter rivals Kilmarnock at Hampden Park.

For more pictures of Meadow Park see this post.

Approaching Meadow Park


The main stand


Livingston fans turned up in good numbers as well...


...and they even brought flares, which is a capital crime in Scotland

The south end...


...from where Scotland and Everton striker James McFadden was watching the game, or at least he was trying to!

Looking towards the southern end of the ground.

Some of the Medda and Livi fans were getting closer and closer to each other in the north end but four policemen managed to keep the peace.

Saturday 19th November 2011
William Hill Scottish Cup third round
Irvine Meadow XI 0 Livingston 6
Goals: McNulty 5, 26, 40, Boulding 41, Deuchar 51, Barr 90.
Att: 1,500

Ochilview Park (East Stirlingshire v Livingston)

Last night it was off to Ochilview Park for East Stirlingshire against Livington. I was at this ground to see a Stenhousemuir game last July but as part of my plan to complete 'The 42' I had to visit it again to see the Shire. Normally I go to these 'neutral' games as a home supporter however I decided to enter the ground through the away gate so I could take some pictures from the roofed terrace.

This Scottish Third Division match was originally scheduled for 8th August however Livingston did not turn up at Ochilview Park because they did not accept their relegation from the First to the Third Division as a punishment for going into adminstration. However after having lost all their appeals the Lothian club decided to get on with it and they played all their scheduled home games from the second match day onwards.

East Stirlingshire originally hail from Falkirk and they used to play their home games at Firs Park (the ground is still there, for some excellent pictures click here). However the pitch was deemed too small according to new SFL regulations and the club did not have the funds to make the necessary improvements so they agreed on a groundshare deal with neighbouring Stenhousemuir FC. Many people wrongly believe East Stirlingshire come from the city of Stirling as the name of the club is often abbreviated as East Stirling.

In the past decade the Shire has acquired somewhat of a cult status as 'the worst football club in Britain.' The club ended bottom of the Third Division for a few years in a row. Author Jeff Connor even followed the team during the 2004/2005 season and turned it into a book called 'Pointless', which was subtitled "A season with Britain's worst football team". I have not read it myself yet. However recently the tide has turned somewhat. Last year the club ended in third place and nearly missed out on the play-off final in the semi final against Cowdenbeath.

Obviously the tide has turned for Livingston as well but in a rather more negative way. After promotion to the SPL in 2001 they qualified for the UEFA Cup after finishing third in their first season in the top flight. In 2004 they won the CIS Cup. From there it went downhill and there is still the possibility of a hefty point deduction for not showing up for their first scheduled Third Division match.

Last night the Shire started the match well and Stephen Maguire scored two first-half goals in give the part-time team a comfortable lead. Robbie Winter pulled one back for Livi just before the half-time whistle. Normally attendances at East Stirlingshire rarely exceed 350 so last night's 567, obviously helped by the relatively large travelling support, counts as a bumper crowd. I have to say the Shire fans were very vocal and created an excellent atmosphere at times.

In the second half the Lothian club looked the stronger team but they were not able to find the net. In fact it was East Stirlingshire's Simon Lynch who scored the only goal in the second half. The deserved 3-1 win meant the Shire climbed up to second place. Livingston are now in fifth place after having lost already three times in the league.

Fore more (and better) pictures of this ground see this post.

The Livingston fans on the terrace.

The stand in the background.

Wednesday 30th September 2009
Scottish Football League Third Division
East Stirlingshire 3 Livingston 1
East Stirlingshire: Maguire 18, 27, Lynch 82.
Livingston: R. Winters 44.
Att: 567

Almondvale Stadium (Livingston v Montrose)

Today it was off to Livingston, to pay my first visit to Almondvale Stadium. This time I did not take the train because both Livingston North and Livingston South railway stations are quite far away from the ground. Instead I took the X15 First bus from Buchanan Bus Station in Glasgow which takes about an hour to take you to the Almondvale Shopping Centre which is very close to the ground. A return ticket is £8.60 but make sure you have the exact fare on you as you do not get any change.

Approaching Almondvale Stadium.

Only days before the Livi Lions were supposed to play their first game at Ross County in the First Division the Scottish Football League decided the West Lothian club were to be demoted to the Third Division because they had gone into administration at the end of June. Livingston had lost their appeal against the SFL's decision last Thursday and initially it was reported the club would not play the game against Montrose, just as they had not turned up at Ogilview Park last week to play East Stirlingshire as Livingstone believed playing this game would prejudice their case against the relegation to the fourth tier in Scottish football. However, the SFA gave assurances that playing today's game would not prejudice their case so Livingstone decided to go ahead with the game after all.

A view of the ground from the nearby multi-storey car park.

Meadowbank Thistle were a relatively unpopular league team from Edinburgh, founded in 1943 as Ferranti Thistle and renamed Meadowbank Thistle when they entered the SFL. They were moved to the 'new town' of Livingston in 1995 to play in the newly-built Almondvale Stadium in an NFL-esque way, very similar to what happened when Wimbledon became MK Dons. It is remarkable however that Livi still count the 1986 Second Division league title and the 1974 'Scottish Qualifying Cup (South)' when they list their honours. In 2001 Livingston were promoted to the SPL. I was at their first ever SPL game when they drew 1-1 at Ibrox. Livi ended the season in third place and qualified for the UEFA Cup. In 2004 they won the League Cup after beating Hibs 2-0 in the final at Hampden. By then the bubble had started to burst. They went into administration for the first time in February 2004. In 2006 they were relegated to the First Division.

Turnstiles leading to the West Stand, the only stand open today.

The ground is compact, just over 10,000 seats which was just enough to enter the SPL under the old requirements. A lot of Scottish football fans criticize the ground for being too 'plastic' but as new grounds go this is not a bad effort at all. Even though there were only just over 600 supportes in the ground according to the official attendance figure they were able to create quite some noise at times. It was clear that the Livi fans were dying to see their team play again, no matter what division they were playing in. Andrew Halliday scored the opening goal for the home team. Montrose then had Sean Crighton sent off after 35 minutes. From this moment it did not look like Livingston could ever lose this game even though after Halliday's second goal in the 54th minute the West Lothian team were not able to find the net for a third time despite a few decent chances. After the final whistle the team were given a rapturous applause by the clearly relieved home contingent. I hope for them the SFL will not come down too harshly on the club for not playing the game against East Stirlingshire. There has been talk of a 15-point deduction which would make it difficult to either avoid relegation from the First Division or win promotion from the Third to the Second Division.

The Carling Bar. A stadium with a bar can never be a bad ground although they were not serving any pints of lager today, only bottled beers. Both lagers on draught, Carling (obviously) and Peroni Nastro Azzuro (presumably introduced by former owner Angelo Massone?) were off unfortunately.

The South Stand.

The North Stand.

The East Stand.

The West Stand, the only stand in use today. The Montrose fans were seated in the far left corner.

Saturday 15th August 2009
Scottish Football League Third Division
Livingston 2 Montrose 0
Goals: Halliday 18, 54.
Att: 632