Scottish Junior Cup Second Round, Macduff Sports Centre, 5/10/19
Deveronside Junior Football Club
Founded – 1977
Nickname -The Side
Honours – North Region (North ) League Winners -1983-84, 1985-86, 1987-88, 1988-89, 1989-90, 1990-91, 1993-94, 1995-96, 1999-00 and 2000-01
Current Division – North Region Superleague
Random Fact – I managed to tick off their old ground Canal Park in Banff when I was serving my first ever suspension in junior football while at Buchanhaven Hearts.
Due to missing my flight home from work on Thursday night(no drink involved) my first plan of Arbroath Vics v Brechin Vics was knocked on the head due to me getting home twenty four hours late. This meaning I got back to my Garioch abode at eleven am on Saturday morning. As I was in the taxi from the airport I had a quick squint at my “unforeseen circumstances” teams fixtures as I had fallen victim of unforeseen circumstances. These are teams reasonably close that may come in handy if I miss flights, have something on in the morning or have a night out or whatever. New Elgin v Newmachar United was the choice but after checking New Elgins twitter I found out it was off. I then noticed hidden away in the Scottish Cup fixtures this match. With Macduff being only around thirty minutes away it was perfect.
On the way up I was thinking this could be a do in for the Banffshire team. As North teams don’t usually fair well v West Region Premier teams. Turns out I was well off the mark. The game although being nil-nil wasn’t bad. It was a tale of heroic defending. The Side should be really happy with their defensive display. I can’t see them every playing that well again. As an ex defender myself it was good to watch. It also has to be said the game started as if Benburb thought they were just turning up to win easily. This led to them getting a fright from the manner in which Deveronside went about their business. “Stern but fair” being a good way to describe their tackling . As the Glasweigans were trying to adapt to what they clearly didn’t expect The Side clearly got a lift and grew in confidence. This obviously got to the Bens manager whos language throughout was let’s say….colourful. The first half was pretty even in terms of possession. Not really much in terms of incident or clear chances . The highlight of the half for me wasn’t on the pitch. This coming when one of the maybe twentyish Benburb fans blew his nose in an incredibly loud fashion leading to one of his pals exclaiming “fucking hell man, who needs a vuvuzela”. Maybe it was the weegie accent but it gave me a good laugh
Second half saw a better performance from the oldest team in Govan (1885). Their ball retention was a lot better. This is where the Deveronside back line stepped up and were quite frankly all man of the match. They kept the Bens at bay and nullified a team who were clearly a decent footballing side. The Side keeper was also good. In the rare instances when the defence was breached he was on hand to make the saves. I have always said a good keeper in Junior fitba is essential. They have one. Good shot stopper and confident with balls into the box. The Govan side will be rueing a couple of chances they missed, a header over the bar from close range being the worst offence and really that should have prevented the replay at New Tinto Park next Saturday. The biggest incident of the match happened in the last minute when the Deveronside striker had beaten the Burb left back for pace for the first time in the match and found himself clean through, the defender made some ground and hauled the striker down when he was bearing down on the keeper. This inevitably lead to a straight red for denying a goal scoring opportunity and killing any hope of a goal for Wee Man and myself. Nil nil it was and the four hundred mile round trip awaits the Macduff side next Saturday .I have Kilwinning v Troon pencilled in but I quite fancy the replay as I am travelling home from Wales on Saturday.
So wee man got his first nil nil in his life. He asked at the in the car on the way home “Daddy why did nobody score”. He cleary didn’t understand what had just happened. He is still learning. Bless him. I was gutted for him.
To make matters worse. I got home and checked the score in the Arbroath Vics v Brechin Vics score. There were eight goals there with seven coming for the home team. Gutted. I was at one of three nil nils in sixty four Junior fixtures across the country. Ach well.
Me 160, Wee Man 33
FITBAWBAG 