Ian Mair Park, North of Scotland League Premiership, 24/9/25
Me still 358
Dyce Football Club
Founded – 1989
Nickname – The Blue and White Hoops
Honours – NRJFA Division One – 2005/06. North Regional Cup – 2007/08 and 2008/09. Grill League Cup – 2008/09, 2015/16 and 2017/18. Morrison Trophy – 2001/02
A midweeker at Ian Mair Park, aye go on then. Any excuse to get my gob around one of the worlds best fitba delicacies. The Dyce FC sausage roll. Even it the game was to be crap my night was made by getting wired into this pastry clad delight. The game was anything but crap though so it was a double bonus for me. It was surprising, it was entertaining, it was goal filled and it was well worth the visit. Going into this, Dyce with a win could go level on points at the top with Bridge of Don Thistle and Stonehaven had a GD of 0 with as many games won as lost. The bookie was surely favouring the Blue and White Hoops. Put it this way, I wish I had a few quid on Martyn Rollo’s Hive who were excellent and great to watch throughout. They started the game on the front foot and that is how the majority of the game was to go. With the unplayable Dylan Shaw running amok on the left he got his first ball into the box to tee up David Salmond who was cursing himself when his laces through the ball effort rattled the post. He knew he should have scored. Stonehaven kept at Dyce and were causing all sorts of problems. Whether it was long balls over the top that made the defence have to turn which were never dealt with or the Hive’s 11 Shaw just going at the defence from the left hand side, Dyce couldn’t cope at all. The foul count on Shaw was testament to this. Stonehaven had another big chance when a Dyce defender played a short ball which Harry Ingram anticipated allowing him to nip in and try and chip the onrushing Cook in the Dyce goal, the ball flew across the face but just didnt have the correct angle to drop behind the line. The chances were racking up for the black and gold clad men and it was Shaw who was creating nine times out of ten. I was highly impressed with the guy. Another couple of chances were carved out by the wide man but the score remained blank. Dyce werent without a chance in the half and by chance I do mean singular but it saw a fine low save from Reece Duncan who got down expertly to stop a Kyle Gordon effort toward the bottom corner. From here it was all Stonehaven again and they finally broke the deadlock on half an hour when man of the moment Shaw was picked out after a brilliant free flowing move. From maybe 22 yards out the number 11 hit an unstoppable dart like effort into the top corner. A superb strike and much to the delight of the rogue Stoney fan on the adjacent railway. 0 v 2 was not far away and it came from the head of Harry Ingram who again used great anticipation to guess another long ball would evade the Dyce defence and as he ran through unopposed, from the 18 yard line he nodded past Cook who had come careering out of his goal. Two goals up and well deserved at 32 on the clock. The game should have been done and dusted in the final minute of the half when another ball into the box from Shaw flashed across the face, could Salmond have gambled and slid in, it looked like it from where I was standing. But it stayed at two.
HT 0 v 2
As the teams emerged from the clubhouse I noticed the lack of a Stonehaven 11. Where was the best player on the park? Spewing in the changing room according to his keeper who was informing punters behind the goal. How would this effect Stonehaven. The half didn’t start very well for them as they had conceded a penalty with in a minute of the restart. This when Ingram had been adjudged to have pushed a blue and white shirt in the box. Gordon stepped up to take the kick and buried it. This gave Dyce a kick up the arse and for the next 10 minutes were the better team and looked a team at the top end of the table. A huge chance to equalise fell to Gordon who leathered an effort at goal from close range but the instinct of Russell saw him throw his arms up and tip the effort on to the bar. A sound save. Dyce dropped off again and it was back to Stoney tormenting the Dyce back line. This even without Shaw. Every ball up gave me an feeling a chance would come and the chances did present themselves with a few balls flying across the face but not tapped in. Finally on 74 minutes one of these balls was finished off when Ingram bagged his brace at the back post. But from a Dyce point of view the space he was in was absolutely criminal. Surely game over. It certainly was four minutes later when big number 9 Salmond was somehow played in, again with an incredible amount of space between him and the nearest Dyce defender. After a couple of steps forward into the box he drove low past Cook. Stonehaven were well worth the points here and they saved their best for last when Ally Anderson received the ball on the half way line. A quick look up saw the substitute hit a speculative effort at goal as Cook was nowhere near his line, the ball sailed beautifully towards the north goals and dropped into the side netting. The piece de resistance saved for the 94th minute finishing what was a rout. Very impressive stuff from the Hive at IMP. A performance worth the entrance fee and a sausage roll worthy of 10 entrance fees.
Entrance – £8
Attendance – 97+ 1 Rogue (Rough head count)
Pie – £4.50 , Sausage Roll and Coffee
Pint – £4.80, Tennent’s, The Greentrees
FITBAWBAG 