Steve B the Groundhopper

1.30pm 3 November 2024 Club Academy Scotland, Advanced League Bonnyrigg Rose U18 0 Montrose U18 3 (att 76) The 'advanced league' is the third and lowest of the three tiers of youth team football for SPFL clubs. Unlike the 'elite' and 'performance' leagues, most matches are played on Sundays. Bonnyrigg Rose play their home games on a 3G pitch at Poltonhall. It's a facility that also includes grass pitches, and appears to be a base for the club's community arm. Spectators have to watch from behind the fence that encloses the pitch, but with grass banking rising steeply along the far side and far end it's easy to get a decent view. It wasn't great viewing for home supporters though. Montrose began on the front foot and the only surprise was that it took them until five minutes in the second before they took the lead. Bonnyrigg had occasional chances, but once they went behind they never looked like recovering. Montrose got a second with an hour play

1.30pm 2 November 2024 SJFA, Inter-regional Cup, First Round Westdyke Community Club 1 Maud 6 (att 32) There's no denying that Westhill, near Aberdeen, is a long way to travel to tick off a ground that's little more than a typical 3G set-up. But being a groundhopping completist meant I had to see a Westdyke home game. The club are new to the Scottish Juniors this season, and so I needed to visit their Lawsondale home to recomplete the full set of SJFA North Region grounds. The inter-regional cup was traditionally for sides it the SJFA's North and Tayside regions. These days they're the only junior leagues still operating, with the latter called the Midlands League. The opening round is regionalised, and the visitors were fellow north side Maud, who play a division higher than Westdyke in the premier league. The gap between them showed over 90 minutes. Two goals in quick succession, about mid-way through the opening half, put Maud on the way to victory. After the break t

10am 2 November 2024 Dundee Saturday Morning League, Premier Division Dryburgh Athletic 3 Cairdy Thistle 1 (att 14) I'd stayed overnight near Glasgow to ease the journey north to my planned afternoon game, and a handful of earlier than usual kick offs in Dundee's Saturday morning league made a double possible. While most games are at 10.30am this fixture, at Dawson Park in Broughty Ferry, was one of a few to get underway 30 minutes earlier. Dawson Park was hosting a trio of top division matches, although the other two were later kick offs. All games in this league are effectively at neutral venues, usually at multi-pitch parks. I only saw an up-to-date table after the game, and it turned out that I'd witnessed Cairdy's first league defeat of the season. I wasn't entirely surprised, as they'd looked the better of two decent sides during a goalless first half. The turning point was a straight red card for a Cairdy player, for a reckless challenge, about five minut