Petershill Park, Scottish Junior Cup Second Round, 24/9/21
Entry – Me £6, Wee Man £0
Attendance – 205 (rough head count)
Pie – £6.50, pie, burger, coffee(surely the first time every being served a filter coffee at the fitba)
Pint – No time
Rossvale Football Club
Founded – 1976
Nickname – ?
Honours – West Region Central District First Division – 2017/18, West Region Central District Second Division – 2014/15
Random Fact – Ex Don Robbie Winters who prolonged his career by dropping down the levels as age took its toll got his first taste of the Junior game with the club in 2014/15 season.
We are loving the Friday nights under the lights and tonight was another depreciation of the value of my motor to add to the under the lights Fridays. This time Springburn in Glasgow to the tidy Petershill Park. The Scottish Junior Cup will always tickle my fancy despite the distance and having to pretty much leave straight from the school run. Worth it for the ground itself. The game though, I cant sugar coat it. It wasn’t great, not that Rossvale will care after becoming the first team into the third round hat. Cambuslang Rangers who are the second most successful team in the history of the tournament (5 wins, 11 finals) will rue their wasteful finishing as they exit the cup early on.
I like Petershill Park, it’s a great set up and worth the trip down alone. A decent stand and the interior of it also looks to be very smart and clean. On top of the architecture, the plastic pitch is excellent. This I noticed when having a kick about behind the goal with Wee Man. The ball glides across the surface. I have played on a few in my time but this one just seems different to anything I have kicked a ball on. I am also appreciative of getting a decent cup of coffee and not just a piss water cup of Nescafe in a polystyrene cup, proper filter coffee. A fine change.
Cambuslang should have had the ball in the net very early on in this match when Christie had the goal waiting for him after Rossvales keeper Gordon pulled off a decent stop, however the Cambuslang man went for power over placement and struck it of the defenders back. Shortly after Williamson was also guilty of not finding the net when he was played in by Stewart but his attempt to bend it into the top right corner was way off the mark and only succeeded in clattering the perimeter fence. Target at least was a must. Rossvale’s first good attempt came from a dead ball struck well by their number 7 which was tipped over the bar. The same man took the follow up corner and cheekily suggested to Wee Man and I that he was away to try and score using the wind. He didn’t and unfortunately pulled up with what looked like a serious injury to his upper leg not long after. Get well soon min, and work on shooting corners. The only other real chance of the half fell to Rossvale’s Kerr who should have done better when he dragged his effort wide from twelve yards and that was about that for the half.
HT 0 v 0
During the break I was to bump into ground bothering aficionado Dave Stoker and have a blether for the entirety of the break. This period saw Wee Man and Davids loon speak to each other which threw up a strange scenario. In deepest darkest Springburn, Glasgow a Livingston clad loon stood speaking to an Aberdeen clad loon. I bet that never happens or ever has in the past. After a good yap with Dave the game was back on and the second half did liven up somewhat. There were definitely more chances. A lot more for both teams but the wasteful nature especially from the visitors was criminal. Wee Man was pretty much the ball boy at the east end of the pitch and retrieved the ball on seven occasions. To add to this Cambuslang put the ball out of the park on 4 seperate occasions. I am not talking about out the pitch I am talking about up and over the perimeter fence of the whole ground. The number 9 Williamson may have been one of the quickest players I have seen in the flesh but he clearly left his shooting boots at the other side of Glasgow tonight. Clearly a good player and supposedly scouts from clubs at a higher lever were in attendance to see him(as stated by a Rossvale committee member). The only goal of the game from a splendid ball in from the left which was met perfectly by Shuggy Kerr as he battered his header past Wilson. A fine goal all round from the hosts. Rossvale could have had a second if it wasnt for some excellent goalkeeping from Wilson when at full stretch to turn the ball up and over the bar and out for a corner. Cambuslang went on to miss a few more opportunities in the remaining minutes with the best leaving Rossvale’s keeper Gordon’s palms stinging at his near post. But the hosts held on and became the first team in the hat for the third round.
Rossvale will be happy to progress after the start to the season they had, which in recent weeks has started to improve. Good luck to them on their cup run too.It is hard to tell if Cambuslang will be too bothered as they have bigger fish to fry and are frying them well by demolishing every team in their wake at league level in their quest for promotion to the top tier. In the age of the new pyramid system, membership in the top flight must be of high importance with the potential it can unlock for a team. They are looking good for a return.
Not the game I was hoping for but it was in an ace wee ground and I met some decent people in Dave at half time, Jeremy towards the end of the match and Barrie after the match. Twitter is an amazing tool when used for good purposes. Not the first time I have met sound folk due to it and I bet it wont be the last time either. One bugger to come out of the night however, I forgot to charge my phone prior to leaving for Glasgow and only have limited photos of the Petershill Park experience.
Me 210, Wee Man 78
FITBAWBAG 