The Recreation Ground, EOSFL Second Division, 9/5/23
Me 273, Wee Man 145
St Andrews United Football Club
Founded – 1921
Nickname – Saints
Honours – Scottish Junior Cup – 1959/60. East Region Premier League2010/11. East Region Central League -2008/09. Fife Junior League – 1926/27, 1927/28, 1928/29, 1959/60, 1960/61, 1964/65 and 1989/90. Fife Cup – 1926/27, 1927/28, 1928/29, 1959/60, 1965/66, 1988/89, 1989/90 and 2004/05. East of Scotland Junior Cup – 2011/12
Random Fact – Manager Robbie Raeside is still listed as player for St Andrews on Wikipedia. This despite being 50, leaving in 2010 and retiring from playing in 2012 after a stint at Tayport.
A lot of our football recently has found us not too far from the door, this mainly due with Juniors North Region Junior quest. At the weekend the Wee Man asked if we could go a bit further this week. Never an issue to me and with a quick squint of the fixtures I spied a big game for St Andrews United, somewhere that is not too far for a midweeker (got to love the AWPR).
So to the historic town on the Fife coast we found ourselves. A town more known for people wasting good walks than it is known for fitba. But the town is home to one time champions of the Scottish Junior Cup and the delightful Recreation Ground. Delightful in the sense it is a quirky place. Especially the pitch with the slope being apparent as soon as you walk in. We have visited many a slanted parks. Tarves have the ski-slope trajectory pitch, Bonnyrigg have the wing to wing tilt, Beith have the slope induced growing sponsor boards but St Andrews seem to have a moguls run with its multiple multi direction slopes and valleys across the whole pitch. I don’t mean this in any derogatory way at all, its just the facts of the place, to me it adds great character to the Rec,which as of this season is worthy of a Scottish Cup entry with the Saints now licensed. The team that play on it are not too shabby and tonight was a big night as a win would see them promoted to the second tier of the EOSFL. It was a job that as I tucked into my first lovely peppery scotch pie in the opening minutes, I realised was not going to be hard to pull off as the home side were clearly superior than Ormiston. Twelve minutes it took for St Andrews to take the lead when Micheil Smith swung in a corner which was beautifully met by Ryan Sneddon who directed his header perfectly from a tight angle (to be noted I originally thought this was Dignan who scored but the Saints have the same issue that I complained about with Hermes. Black numbers on blue shirts, pain in the ass to make out at times). From here it continued to be one way traffic with a few chances created by the Saints. But it was beyond half an hour before a second was added when Dignan (definitely him this time) was left with a tap in after Primrose keeper Gordon came to collect after shouting, his team mates stopped to allow him win the ball, however he dropped it and his defence were all flat footed unlike Dignan who tapped into a largely unguarded net. This much to the delight of the young team. A group of wee kids with home made flags, a saltire and a drum which was made out of what looked like greaseproof paper and a plant pot. This played with spoons. As the Saints celebrated their second the “ultras” song for Primrose was “you’re just a fake Borussia Dortmund” as the visitors were in yellow and black. This to the amusement of Wee Man, myself and Mark who we spent the guts of the game with. The half time whistle went and I was clear this was only going one way and was not to be much of a spectacle, just a professional job by St Andrews. To the extent that Wee Man was more interested in keeping us updated with the SPFL playoff scores than what was happening on the pitch. Which is not a bad thing in all honesty as its great to see him having such an interest in Scottish fitba as a whole.
HT 2 v 0
After a wee knock about of the ball we stayed at the opposite end from the first half given St Andrews were to be shooting at it and the chance of a Primrose goal was slim to none. I am not even sure Brodie in the Saints goal had touched the ball in anger up until this point. It wasn’t long until Brodie’s opposite number was picking the ball out of the net again when he saw a twenty-five yard effort from Dignan beat him into his right hand corner. This was surely game over. I was hoping it was also scoring over as I am lagging behind Wee Man in the season score predictions and I had 3 v 0 tonight. Unfortunately for me the Saints added a fourth and it was another tap in for Dignan to seal his hat trick after some poor defending. This giving Wee Man another notch in his predictions for the season. Leaving me trailing him by 3 in May, it is not looking good for me as time is now against me. That was the game dead and buried but the Saints still went for more. They just did not come. I was impressed in the second period by Mitchell Sharp. A very direct player who looks like he glues the ball to his foot, a very tricky player which was clear to see despite a brief part in proceedings. One thing I took from the match. The ball was rarely off the deck from either team. St Andrews were better with the ball and Ormiston didn’t offer much but both teams tried to play good football throughout. Despite the fourth goal killing the game stone dead the action was not over yet. A spectating dog was struck with the ball, so hard that Mark and myself were worried for its welfare. We need not have worried though, as around twenty seconds later it tried to head the ball back into play as it wagged its tail manically. But it didn’t quite get things right. Not to be left out of being star of the show, it escaped it’s lead and got on the pitch. holding up the game until Brodie caught it and didn’t just remove the pooch from the pitch but chucked it in the changing rooms. A bit of amusement to end the match before the Saints celebrated promotion up the pyramid.On that, the Saints are a prime example of why the conference bullshit idea can get in the skip as soon as possible. They have ambition, got themselves licensed and now promoted up a tier. Yet will find themselves relegated down a tier if this monstrosity of an idea comes to fruition. Only in Scotland could teams be made to jump through many hoops only to be screwed in order to suck up to two teams. But I digress. On the way home Wee Man said ” I have seen a lot of teams that have St. in their name”. Turns he has seen ten different clubs with the moniker , surely outnumbered by Uniteds and maybe Thistles. I’ll work that out at a later date though.
Entrance – £6 Me £0 Wee Man
Attendance – 136 (Rough Head Count)
Pie – £4 pie and coffee
Pint – £4.20 Social Club
Score Predictions – Me 3 v 0, Wee Man 4 v 0
Season Score Predictions Total – Me 1 v 4 Wee Man
FITBAWBAG 
Good Game
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