Princess Royal Park, Friendly, 8/7/25
Me still 349, Wee Man still 210
Deveronvale Football Club
Founded – 1938
Nickname – Vale
Honours – Highland Football League – 2002/03, 2005/06, Aberdeenshire Cup –1947/48, 1950/51, 1951/52, 1961/62, 1965/66, 2000/01, 2006/07, 2011/12. Aberdeenshire Shield– 1994/95, 2002/03. Scottish Qualifying Cup (North)– 1951/52, 2001/02
Another pre-season friendly including a Highland League side for us. A game within half an hour was needed tonight and with PRP just 25 mins(no traffic) away from us ,this hybrid HFL/Junior encounter was the place to be. I always like to watch the sixth tier teams coming up against fifth tier to see how they get on. This was actually supposed to be Islavale but I gather they pulled out and Colony Park stepped in. Wee Man wasn’t caring as he was all up for the “best kick about in the Highland League”.
As we approached PRP I saw one of the shiny new floodlight pylons sticking out from over the nearby houses. The new lights that went up mid-season last season were something I had forgotten about entirely. They are some pieces of kit, they are huge and have an old school floodlight tower look while still looking modern at the same time. I doubt they came cheap. They look good though. That was the first thing of note. The second was the Spotty Bag Shop sponsor sign behind the west goal has been smashed since we last visited. One of the best sponsors in fitba wrecked, a crying shame. The third thing was the Albatross flying above, well they were seagulls but some of them were enormous with incredible sized loads falling from their tar pits. I was dreading getting back to the car to see the potential slimy white carnage(there were a couple of spatters when I got back).
After smashing a few shots at Wee Man in the astro, the game kicked off and being totally truthful, it was very pre-seasony and to use an old cliche, “a good run out for both teams”.The Vale had a couple of good moves in the first half which led to tidy goal keeping from Colony keeper Connor MacLeod . Dem Yunus, the Vale midfielder also managed to send three shots into the astro within the first 25 minutes. Quite the feat. In terms of solid chances, Oleg Dlugosz should have scored for the Vale when he fired over from a few yards out this late on in the half. In the last minute Colony hit the bar from a corner, the box was too packed to see who made the header from the other end of PRP. One thing for sure was MacIntosh in the Vale goal was well beaten as it bounced of the top of the woodwork and out for a goal kick.
HT 0 v 0
The second half was a bit more open but seemed to still have that friendly vibe to it. You could argue that as an attacking threat Colony Park were better going forward in the first half of the second period but they were not to test substitute keeper Ethan Hopkinson at all. The game was really devoid of action barring Deveronvale’s number 6 (trialist) taking a boot the face leading to a bit of a nasal Merlot explosion and an earlier exit from the field than he would have been hoping for. As time ticked on the kick to the face looked to be the only action we were going to get. It just felt like a blank was coming, but Colony tired a wee bit and were caught out when Dlugosz set off on a jungle run from the left, he evaded a tackle, then another and broke into the box beating another man to finish across Macleod. I couldn’t help but feel if it was earlier in the game the Vale 11 would have been stopped in his tracks. The Vale took heart from this and seemed to gain a confidence going forward and were denied by the face of MacLeod when he used his moosh to stop a Fergus Alberts effort. The keeper closed the striker down well so it has to go down as a decent save. But he could not stop Alberts a minute later when he was picked out mid-goal for a tap in. Colony took centre and lost possession immediately and were pretty much taking centre again within 30 seconds after Ryan Park headed in a Dlugosz ball from the right. With only minutes to go on the clock it looked like Wee Man was away to get his first correct score of the season in only the second game, this until with the last kick of the ball that man Alberts stepped up and scored another tap in much to the disgust and disappointment of Junior as he left PRP stepping over all the fried egg sized bird shits that had accumulated on the slabs over the duration of the match. A fine warm night, four goals, a decent kick about and nae too far from the door. As Tuesday’s go, that will do me fine.
Entrance – Me £5, Wee Man Free
Attendance – 122(Rough Head Count)
Pie – Closed
Pint – Club bar closed
Score Predictions – Me 2 v 0, Wee Man 3 v 0
Season Score Predictions Total – Me 0 v 0 Wee Man
FITBAWBAG 