Milton Park, Fraser Cup Final, 11/7/25
Me still 349, Wee Man still 210
Entrance – £3 me, Wee Man Free
Attendance – 96 (Rough Head Count)
Pie – £8.50, pie x 2, juice x 2, Crisps
Pint – £3.00, ground bar
Score Prediction – Me 4 v 1, Wee Man 2 v 0
Season Score Prediction Totals – Me 0 v 0 Wee Man
Then just like that, the Mid-Deeside League comes to a close after starting what feels like a few days ago. Which to be realistic is not actually far off the time frame of this shortened season. Despite the brief season we have managed to squeeze in three match days which has included two cup finals which cannot be sniffed at. Today was the most important though as with some neverending personal/work shite refusing to disappear I had to get out of the house and clear my head and with Deeside being a prime location for such a need it was a perfect choice. Plus it was a scorcher and no day to be indoors. Wandering about in the middle of nowhere was the order of the day. With the main attraction being Scotland’s tallest structure, a construction of similar size to the Eiffel Tower, we walked up the hill to the Durris Transmission Tower. Three reasons brought us here. The first being, after our recent house move Wee Man’s bedroom view looks on to the Meldrum Transmitter which he thought was huge, when its actually only just over 1/3 of the height of the Durris. Second was I saw a pal out that way yesterday. Third I am a geek for ace engineering stuff. An enjoyable walk with numerous animals seen in the wild, a vole, a frog, a peregrine falcon, a deer, what used to be a deer and a Berwick Rangers fan. Then it was to the fitba with plenty of time for a kick about. The plan was to use the goals on the adjacent pitch but it had clearly been recently seeded so we avoided it. Instead we made up a game of hitting a traffic cone (without a bounce)from distance. A great and frustrating game despite the simplicity.
Milton Park, the venue of the Battle of Scottish Cup in the early 2000s.A story I will always tell. This when my Ellon was Meadows U18s took on Banchory in said cup. Finding ourselves down 3 v 0 at half time, this rightfully was followed by a pyroclastic blast at the break. Getting back to 3 v 4 up in the second half the hosts lost their shit and after some goading from teammate Martyn Duncan, a skirmish broke out with fists flying and myself ending up outnumbered in a ruck of Banchory players hitting anything that moved. One of the best days of Juvenile fitba and my abiding memory of Milton Park. But on top of that I like the rural location of Banchory St Ternan’s home on the banks of the Dee. It really is bonnie and complete with the hypnotic sound of the Dee meandering past. To be added, when the weather is like what it was tonight, the whole place just seems even more inviting. What also helps is the friendliness of the Mid-Deeside league, which is run by some genuinely affable folk such as Richie Issac who we had briefly met in Aboyne. There is also Kyle Taylor who we spoke to for a while tonight during the game. (I still hope Ellon Thistle hump you next season though). Then there was Banchory St. Ternan chairman Graham Handsley who although not directly linked with the league was good company as we were hiding from the sun in the bar. A cracking day before we had seen a ball kicked in anger.
On the pitch, the two current league teams we had yet to view up against each other. We both had a feeling that Alford would come away with the trophy but we were in for a surprise early doors as Drumoak and Durris were a lot better than expected. They were clearly an older team than Alford but they looked good on the attack and I was especilly impressed with Richard Moir the number 10. Grizzled lets say but decent feet and a lot quicker than you would imagine. He was causing issues for the Alford defence. He was also a big part of the nights first controversial moment. This when he bamboozled an Alford defender then sent a cross towards a mixer chocked full of his team mates, the ball struck a defenders hand and was prevented entering the box. The referees union would no doubt say the hand was not in an unnatural position, however it was not tucked in and it stopped the travel of the ball. If that’s not a penalty the rules really need rewritten. A let off for Alford and typically it was moments later they took the lead through Fraser Booth who was on hand to bury a cross from the right. It was the start of what was to be a cracking night for the striker. Now then, without sounding like I am resorting to hyperbole here, here comes one of the most baffling decisions I have seen and will likely see in fitba. Moir lashed a ball goal ward for D&D which beat McElroy in the Alford net crossing the line and not by a ball hair. This was half way into the deep Milton Park net. It was cleared and I saw the ref look at his linesman who reported no goal over his mic. I was truly astonished by this, and going by the perplexed look on Wee Man’s face he was in the same boat. The thing is we were in line with the linesman(Wee Man and his usual watching keepers position) and the gap between the ball and post was massive. I genuinely cannot fathom what was seen. But to make matters worse, in the aftermath D&D were put down to 10 men when captain Kane Stewart asked the lino if he was “taking the fucking piss”. The referee could not get his red card out quick enough and the game went from what should have been 1 v 1 and 11 v 11 to 1 v 0 11 v 10. I couldnt help but feel this match was buggered now. To be noted the lino was then soaked by a spectator just up from us to which Wee Man was reduced to hysterics.
HT 1 v 0
Wee Man had perked up after toiling in the sun earlier, the shade working wonders and even leading to more kick about which I did not expect and he seemed totally spent. As we blethered during the break were were both in agreement the man advantage was going to lead to a big score due to the youth of Alford against the “more experienced” Drumoak and Durris side. That’s what was to transpire in the second half. Olaf Dworak had an early effort which he should have done better with after he found himself in behind a bit to easily. The same man took the resulting corner and sent it inch perfect on to the head of Booth who boomed a header into the net. Booth should have had his hat trick a minute later but he shanked an effort wide from a very decent position. But he didnt have to wait long for his third as he notched it when his run cut through the D&D defence leaving him to fire home across goal into the bottom corner. He may have grabbed three but even taking that away he had a brilliant game, his work rate and just constant finding of space was impressive. Three was four very quickly when Wanderers scored what I can only describe as a superb piece of fitba. Dworak took the corner short to Angus Booth who seemed to come short out of nowhere, a drop of the shoulder saw him skin the defender and again a run from out of nowhere saw/heard Shay Williams screaming for the ball which he received and sent a tidy finish well out of D&D keeper Kristoffer Reid’s reach. This was in danger of getting out of hand and the fact a fifth came three minutes later didnt help things. This time Angus Booth got his own goal after playing a part in the others. Great feet were shown at the edge of the box leading to him skelping a ball into Reid’s bottom corner. 5 v 0 with 20 minutes to go. But surprisingly that was it for the scoring. However, there was still one thing of note to go. Step forward D&D sub Shaun Morrison, who when was skilled by an Alford player which was received with jeering from the Alford fans he decided to retaliate with an X-rated lash out which immediately brought out the second Drumoak and Durris red card of the game. Even in my not so adverse to dirty tactics mind, this was a bit wild. Alford could maybe have rubbed it in a bit more but spurned a couple of decent chances before the game finished. D&D defender David Glass also hit his own bar with a clearance which if had went in would have summed up the Drumoak and Durris night. It stayed at five though and as the final whistle blew under a firey red setting sun, the Wanderers took the final silverware of the season in what is their first ever season in existence.
Haste ye back Mid-Deeside League. A fine set up to watch fitba in.
FITBAWBAG 