Spain Park, North Regional Cup Second Round, 7/4/26
Banks o’ Dee Junior Football Club
Founded – 2022
Nicknames – The Dee
Honours – Elginshire Cup – 2022/23
A morning kick about at Fyvie Park got the hopes up of ditching our touries for tonight and hopefully the season as it was a lovely double figure temperature morning. Fast forward six hours and we left the house armed with our trusty heid warmers. Is it ever going to be bloody warm at the fitba?
Rothie, now our most local “Junior” team have had a decent season so far and topped the Premier League for a while before natural order knocked them off their perch as teams caught up in matches played. However, I was interested to see what cant be denied is an improved Rovers. So improved I wagered on them to come away with a third round berth tonight. As Lemmy once said “gambling’s for fools”.
On the hosts, there was a weird vibe at Spain Park. It has been a while since I have watched the Juniors and it seems there is a lot of change. Social media seems to be gone completely, which is a pain in the arse team lines wise. Crowds are well down, there is no food or coffee except the vending machines. Also to be noted there was no presence of the big team on the pitch or committee wise like there used to be. I may be wrong but it felt like they were going through the motions a bit. This made the result even more surprising. Given the clubs league campaign I did not expect such a good performance (although aided by Rothie’s performance) or some of the quality players on show none of which I know the names of as I have no access to team lines. Fair play to them on the night.
Two weeks ago I was moaning about three nil-nils in a week. In the last week I have seen three matches all with six goals in them. Famine or feast stuff this trip home. The goals started early tonight with the Dee netting a penalty eleven minutes in via the number 11 who was rashly wiped out to earn the kick after Rothie failed to clear a freek kick into the box. Straight from kick off Rothie got up the park and anything they could do Banks o’ Dee could do better as they then immediately gave away a totally rash penalty. A mad couple of minutes. Jake Stewart was not to care as he knocked the ball in sending the keeper the wrong way. I thought this would get Rovers tails up but no. The Dee were the better team and added a second 25 mins in when a ball into the left channel was swung into the box where the Dee 8 was as good as free to nod the ball in off the bar. As the ball dropped it spun out of the goal into Rothie keeper Gibson’s hands and the keeper tried to play on as if it hadn’t crossed the goal line but the lino had spotted it and gave it. Worth a try from the the Rovers custodian and led to a conversation with Wee Man about fitba dishonesty and how he needs to introduce it into his life. For the record, it was in front of us and clearly beyond the line. The home side should have been two clear by half time when a ball over the top dropped bang in the middle of Gibson and the Dee forward, Gibson didn’t have the pace to get there leaving himself stranded only for the effort at goal to be weak and straight at him. It had to be dinked as it was the best option but the Dee man fluffed it. The Dee had a goal chopped off tight in the half for offside. No complaints were made so it must have been, we couldnt tell from our angle.
HT 2 v 1
It was 3 v 1 the hosts quick sharp after the break and just like the second goal, not yellow clad men seemed to come and attack the ball into the box leaving Banks o’ Dee to score another easy goal (7). If we are talking about easy goals the fourth was not much better and were being over ran. With play coming down the right hand side and three home men breaking the ball was played to the left of the box where after three bites at the cherry, the ball was finally struck past Gibson by the number 10. This was becoming embarrassing for Rothie and disappointing from my own personal perspective as I expected a lot more from our local team. With 12 minutes to go Jake Stewart missed a glorious chance to give the Dee something to worry about when he was picked by a superb chipped ball from Wilson but the header across goal although was the right idea and beat Duncan it went the wrong side of the post. With three minutes to go the sixth goal of the game went in and again it was too easy. From Rothie in possession at the edge of the Dee box, seconds later it was 5 v 1 after a long ball over the top left the Dee 10 in on goal to cooly slip the ball past Gibson. A fine result and passage through to the next round for the Dee and deservedly so. Yes the Rovers were poor but you can only beat what is in front of you and this was never in doubt once the game kicked off.
The last twice we have been to Spain Park we have witnessed a fox in the vicinity. Tonight as we were heading up the drive towards Abbottswell Road where the car was parked we were passed by a massive butch rat. This thing was massive. Must have be a gym using rat as it looked tough and was heading in the direction of the Sports Club.
Entrance – Me £7, Wee Man Free
Attendance – 54 (rough head count)
Pie – N/A – bloody vendors at the Juniors. This meant separate payments for coffee, juice, crisps, Mars Bar and I didn’t even notice how much
Pint – N/A
Score Predictions – Me 1 v 3, Wee Man 0 v 3
Season Score Prediction Totals – Me 3 v 3 Wee Man
FITBAWBAG 