Forest Park, North of Scotland League Championship, 19/8/25
Me still 358, Wee Man still 215
Burghead Thistle Football Club
Founded – 1902
Nickname – The Broch
Honours – Morayshire Junior League – 1908/09, 1909/10 and 1931/32. North Region Junior League (North) – 1968/69, 1972/73, 1973/74 and 1976/77. North of Scotland Junior Cup – 1962/63. Moray and District Junior Cup -1909/10. Morayshire Junior Cup – 1913/14, 1931/32, 1952/53, 1961/62 and 1969/70. Elginshire Cup – 2007/08 and 2009/10. Connon Cup – 1931/32, 1955/56, 1958/59, 1960/61, 1961/62, 1964/65 and 1978/79. Matthew Cup – 1958/59, 1971/72, 1972/73 and 1974/75. Gordon Williamson Cup- 1968/69, 1970/71, 1971/72, 1973/74 and 1974/75. Nicholson Cup – 1931/32, 1948/49, 1957/58, 1974/75, 1995/96, 1997/98, 1998/99, 1999/00 and 2000/01. Robertson Cup – 1931/32, 1973/74, 1974/75, 1975/76, 1976/77 and 1977/78. Stewart Memorial Cup – 1969/70, 1973/74, 1974/75, 1975/76, 1976/77 and 1979/80, White Horse Cup – 1931/32, 1932/33 and 1973/74. Buckie Junior Cup – 1931/32. Tom Gordon Cup – 1975/76 and 1977/78, Wick Allan Shield – 1973/74
A huge credit goes to the Wee Man here. The reason being he was looking at Dave Stoker’s fantastic ScottishFootballFixtures and noticed there was a full Junior card up north tonight. I told him we could take one on. I didn’t expect him to come away with “Lets go back to Burghead”. One of the most extreme reaches of the ‘local’ Juniors for us. (Only todays visitors and Forres Thistle are further). Not too huge of a trek though as it’s just over one hour from the new abode. Asking his reasoning, “ace kickabout” which to be fair to him, getting his ball into grounds is the main reason we watch the level of fitba we do. Personally speaking I had absolutely no qualms about heading to Forest Park as it is one of Scottish fitba’s hidden gems. I think it is an absolutely fantastic spot for a game. Situated just on the outskirts of the Moray Coast town rich in Pictish history, the name is a give away to the setting this utterly splendid home of the last remaining original member of the Morayshire Junior League still in existence.(Elgin Haugh Rovers, Elgin Orion, Elgin Thistle, Fochabers, Hearts of Moray, Lossiemouth Athletic and Rothes Albert made up the other numbers for those who are interested). If you havent been this gargantuan pitched beauty, you need to as it really is bloody wonderful, full of quirks and charm (I could be in PR for the North of Scotland League me with the bigging up that spews out of me at times).
If I had one complaint, on entrance there was the offer of two raffles. The first being the usual match day. The other was one of those pick a team type cards. The prize? What looked like pencil drawings of rangers (dead and new) players. It was a simple pass for me, but it did nothing for the stereotype of Burghead being a rangers enclave. Anyway that is a minor moan. Ten seconds later we were having our “ace kickabout” and things were all good again. Going into the game, looking at the table it showed Nairn had the meanest defence in the league with only one conceded. I was sold on the idea of another clean sheet, Wee Man said Burghead would score and ended up with the correct score, the wee bam. As the game kicked off junior was oblivious as he was stuck into the Broch branded luxury ice cream that was on sale. I am positive this is a first time seeing this at the Juniors. On the green stuff Nairn were the better team early doors with two chances falling to striker Marc Macdonald who first of all was stopped well by his namesake Aiden Macdonald in the Broch goal then soon after sent an effort a fraction wide. The keeper Macdonald did really well to get off his line so quickly and close down the striker at the first effort and it would not be the last time he would show such awareness as it was a bit of a habit in the game. A decent looking keeper. The Burghead custodian could do nothing about the opener when Kieran Duffty was given too much space on the left this allowing time to pick out Macdonald who slotted a low drive out of reach. A deserved lead on how the play was panning out. From here there was not a huge amount of action. Both teams were trying to have a go but there was not much going on in the danger zones. There was more action off the park as I had a yap with the man we saw score a howitzer of a free kick last Friday for nearby Hopeman, Craig Robertson. This until his old man gave him the stare to hurry up and get his pie for him
HT 0 v 1
HT kick about came in the training goals as it always was going to. As far as kickabouts go there are not many better. Loads of space, goals to smash shots at Wee Man, perfect really. Obviously it adds to Wee Man’s enjoyment at Forest Park and it really does mine too. Burghead were the team on the front foot in the early part of the second half, they came out to have a go and not give Saints a minutes peace and it worked as they were awarded a penalty when some hassling led to a bit of a slip up at the back which left Ben Abrahams bearing down on goal with only Macdonald to beat only to find himself completely hacked down from behind by defender Aaron Craigie. Penalty and red card every day of the week. Now you can talk about ‘double jeopardy’ (which has always been a nonsense) but that only applies if the tackle is a genuine attempt at the ball. This was right in front of us and I can categorically state this was a genuine attempt at the man. However, the referee only booked the Nairn defender which I will never be able to work out the reasoning. The challenge was rash and looked like born from frustration at the fact Abrahams was allowed through so easily. After the visitors had left the ref alone, Ryan MacBean stepped up and sent Taylor in the Saints goal the wrong way. This got Burghead tails up while Nairn seemed to lose the plot at every decision whether a free kick or throw in. They were concentrating more on feeling hard done and allowing Burghead to pick up every second and lose ball. The home side were a totally different team than at any point in the match. Then in a twist to proceedings Nairn went on to score what was to be the winner when Logan Hallam sent a low drive from the edge of the box across goal into Macdonald’s bottom left corner. A fine strike it was too and a bit out of nowhere. Wee Man wasn’t caring as he had the correct score if things did not change in the last twenty minutes or so. Burghead’s earlier confidence in the half seemed to leave them somewhat and time got away from them. As the minutes ticked away the daylight was rapidly declining too, interestingly there is still another round of midweekers to go in a weeks time. This seems to be pushing it a bit but we will see come next Tuesday. The last piece of action in the game came when everyone in black was claiming for a penalty as Hallam and Macdonald clashed. The keeper had come high to collect and did so, then Hallam ran through the big keeper. It looked to me to be dangerous play from the forward if anything but the away side were howling for the spot kick ending up more enraged when the ref gave a free kick to the Broch. Hallam’s game was over and he left the park injured after the collision. Nairn held on leaving themselves to three points from the top. I think the race for the Championship could be a cracker this season, Nairn are clearly a decent side but with the likes of Deveronside, Newmachar United and Fraserburgh United looking good and surprise unbeaten package New Elgin looking decent to, its anyone’s guess to how this will go.
114 mile round trip it is to Burghead from our house. It was worth it once again, and will always be worth it. Forest Park is one of my favourite places to watch a game and that has always been the case since I first watched one there. Going by Wee Man’s chat on the way home, I’ll bet we will be back up this season.One thing that always stick in my memory though, I was never a fan of playing it though, too bloody big for me but as a paying customer these days, that’s just another added quirk to this superb place. Some people wont get why I think so highly of it, others will and that’s why fitba can be magic. It’s all about opinions and mine is Forest Park is one of the best in the land.
Entrance – Me £6, Wee Man £3
Attendance – 48
Pie – £5 Pie, coffee, juice, Ice Cream
Pint – N/A
Score Predictions – Me 0 v 2, Wee Man 1 v 2
Season Score Predictions Total – Me 2 v 1 Wee Man
FITBAWBAG 