Links Park (Montrose v Whitehill Welfare)

Yesterday I went to Montrose for the third round Scottish Cup tie between SFL Third Division side Montrose and Whitehill Welfare from the East of Scotland League. I made use of the Sunday Mail offer (a return ticket to any destination in Scotland for a fiver with Citylink) and took a Citylink bus from Glasgow to Dundee. In Dundee I got on a train and arrived in the town of Montrose 30 minutes later. I was in Montrose last year but unfortunately did not get to see any football then as the league game against Queen's Park was postponed due to high winds. Because of the rainfall during the last few days I was afraid another cancellation was a possibility. I had checked all websites and phoned the club and the game was definitely on. After entering Links Park I realised that the pitch is artificial and there had not been much risk of it being waterlogged!

Thanks to the few hours I had spent in Montrose last year I knew the town and its pubs a little and, just like last year, I had a couple of pints in the Picture House, a large Wetherspoon-esque pub in Hume Street, near the train station. From the station it is a short walk, less than ten minutes, to Links Park.

Montrose's ground is dominated by the large main stand (1,300 seats). There is also a covered terrace behind one of the goals. Behind the opposite goal there is a small uncovered terrace and there is room for standing on the side opposite the main stand as well. Due to its proximity to the North Sea it can get very chilly inside the stadium.

Today's opponents Whitehill Welfare are currently sitting fifth in the top division of the East of Scotland League, one of the three 'non-league' senior leagues in Scottish Football, the other two being the Highland League and the South of Scotland League. Whitehill reached the third round of the Scottish Cup by beating Highland League oppostion twice, first Lossiemouth and then Wick Academy.

Despite being the underdogs on the day Whitehill found the back of the net after only seven minutes as Jordan Hall scored with a 35-yard strike. Paul Tosh equalised from the penalty spot after he was fouled by William Kidd. The big turning point came after Whitehill's Alan Cornett was sent off for handling in the area and Tosh converted another penalty. After the interval, the East of Scotland League side put in a brave performance even though they were a man short. However, Gordon Pope's goal fifteen minutes before time drove the final nail in the coffin for the men from Rosewell. No doubt the Gable Endies will be hoping for a money spinner when their name is pulled out of the hat along with the SPL sides tomorrow.

Approaching Links Park.


The entrance to the ground.


The main stand.


The covered terrace behind one of the goals.


Whitehill players celebrate after surprisingly taking the lead.


Montrose were looking for the equaliser. This effort went just wide.


Despite the rain there was a group of vocal Montrose supporters on the small terrace behind the other goal. They moved to the other end for the second half.


Paul Tosh's penalty levelled the game.


The pressure on the Whitehill defence continued.

Paul Tosh converted a second penalty for the Gable Endies.

A closer look at the covered terrace.

And a closer look at the main stand as well.

Saturday 20th November 2010
Scottish Cup 3rd Round
Montrose 3 Whitehill Welfare 1
Montrose: Tosh 21 pen, 40 pen, Pope 75.
Whitehill Welfare: Hall 7.
Att: 435

Balmoor (Peterhead v Montrose)

Yesterday I kicked off the 2010/2011 season with a visit to a new ground. Peterhead were taking on Montrose in the first round of the ALBA Challenge Cup, a cup competition in which the 30 Scottish Football League teams take part. The final has already been scheduled for November and the competition is usually won by one of the First Division sides vying for promotion to the SPL. Last year's winners were Dundee who looked destined to move up to the big boys last season but whose campaign imploded in the latter stages of the season.

The Challenge Cup is not the most important competition in Scottish football but SFL supporters all over the country must have been looking forward to the first competitive game since May. I know I was and I had been planning this trip for a few weeks. Peterhead, in the northeast of Scotland, is a difficult place to get to if you stay in Paisley and rely on public transport. There is no train station in Peterhead, in fact the nearest train station is 32 miles away in Aberdeen, which makes Balmoor the furthest away from a railway station of all senior football grounds in Britain.

Travelling by train from Paisley to Aberdeen is usually not cheap, an off-peak day return ticket will set you back almost 50 quid but thanks to ScotRail's Advance loyalty scheme I was able to buy a return ticket to any destination in Scotland for £25. Not only that, it was actually a ticket for two people, who could travel anywhere for said amount. Not a bad deal but unfortunately people were not queueing up to join me on a 10-hour round trip to see a third-tier side so I went by myself. A big mistake according to the conductor on the 8:41am Glasgow Queen Street-Aberdeen train. 'You should have a friend with you,' he said. I thought he was joking but no, the guy was being serious. 'The offer is for two people you should not be travelling alone, technically your ticket is not valid,' he added. This guy would have been a great source of inspiration for John Cleese. 'But I have paid the £25 and I am actually leaving you an extra seat,' I countered. The jobsworth was having none of it: 'Like I said, the offer is for two people, don't do it again.' I was not going to argue with him, who knows what this guy was capable of when challenged in the line of duty, but I was annoyed to be made looking like a fraudster. Needless to say the conductor on the 6:30pm train back to Glasgow had no problems with me travelling by myself.

Approaching Balmoor.

I arrived in Aberdeen at around 11:15 and after having bought a Red Bull Salzburg away top for a tenner at Sports Direct I made my way to The Justice Mill, one of the Wetherspoon pubs that were still on my to-do list. After a half pint of Tuborg, unfortunately all I had time for, I rushed to Union Square bus station where I took the 263 Stagecoach bus to Peterhead (£10.10 for a return ticket). After a comfortable journey of an hour and 10 minutes the bus dropped me off in Peterhead, just outside The Cross Keys, which is - yes, you guessed it - the local Wetherspoon pub. I had a beer-and-burger and then made my way to the ground, which is a 15-minute walk from the town centre.

Peterhead FC are a former Highland League side and only joined the SFL in 2000, just before I arrived in Scotland. The Blue Toon have been quite successful, winning promotion to the Second Division in 2005. Balmoor is a well maintained and fairly modern ground with modern-looking stands on both sides and terracing behind the goals. I had been looking forward to a cup thriller but Peterhead were much stronger than their Third Division opponents. David Wyness needed only 7 minutes to score his first goal for his new club. After the break the Second Division side really went to town with a Stephen McNally own goal in the 50th minute and Wyness's second six minutes later. Already described as an 'early contender for goal of the season' on Peterhead's official website was Paul Emslie's effort from about 40 yards which took Gable Endies goalie Scott Bennett completely by surprise. Martin Bavidge scored the fifth Peterhead goal from close range with 15 minutes left on the clock. I left the ground in injury time to make sure I would make the 5:05pm bus back to Aberdeen but I was able to hear (and see) the final whistle from outside the stadium.

First a quick (half) pint in The Justice Mill in Aberdeen.

Then something to eat in The Cross Keys in Peterhead.

The Balmoor turnstiles.

The modern East Stand.

The Main Stand.

The Gable Endies were unable to find the net today.

No stands behind either goal.

A female assistant referee.

I had left the ground just before the game had finished, this picture was taken seconds after the final whistle.

Saturday 24th July 2010
ALBA Challenge Cup
Peterhead 5 Montrose 0
Goals: Wyness 7, McNalley 50 og, Wyness 56, Emslie 66, Bavidge 76.
Att: 357

Links Park (Montrose)

For pictures of a Montrose game at Links Park see this post.

After the game in Arbroath was cancelled yesterday afternoon I decided to make the most of my day so I took the train to Montrose. Montrose were playing Queen's Park in the Scottish Third Division. It took about fifteen minutes on the train to go to Montrose and it was a ten-minute walk to Links Park, home of Montrose FC. I had not really prepared this trip of course but the ground was easy enough to find. Unfortunately however I soon found out that this game was cancelled too. And I was not able to get inside the ground either so all there was left was taking some pictures holding my camera over all kinds of walls and fences.

The Main Stand.


The Main Stand seen from the side.


A panorama view of Links Park. From left to right the roofed Welling Street End terrace, the Union Street Side, the Beach End, and the Main Stand.

They like building things near the water in these parts...I now had to wait till 17:13 to take the train to Glasgow, or so I thought. A tree had fallen on the tracks near Stonehaven and all trains between Aberdeen and Dundee were affected. Eventually my train arrived at about 19:30. I spent the time in between cancelled trains in The Picture House, a large modern pub near the station.

This was the end of a long day with two new grounds but without any football.

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