BSC Glasgow v East Kilbride

BSC Glasgow 0-1 East Kilbride
Scottish Lowland Football League
Indodrill Stadium
Friday 6th April 2018

There’s something really enjoyable about a Friday night game, so when the fixtures threw up this top four Lowland League clash on a Friday night in Clackmannanshire, it was an easy decision to go and watch what should hopefully be some good quality football.

The Venue

Recreation Park, currently known as The Indodrill Stadium for sponsorship reasons has been the home of Alloa Athletic since 1895, making it one of the oldest grounds in Scotland still in use. That said, a lot has changed about the ground in the last 123 years.

The ground consists of two stands, one at the centre of each sideline running around halfway along the pitch. The Main Stand, which seats 424 people, all raised well above pitch level, was constructed in 1991. There’s a couple of poles for structural stability, but the stand still gives a good view. Underneath the stand are the changing rooms and toilet facilities as well as the dugouts. As we were leaving, the East Kilbride players were coming out the back door of the stand. Apparently, as part of BSC’s groundshare agreement, they don’t have use of the away changing rooms, so they were heading next door to the Wasp Club to change. I don’t know if that was just for this game, or if it’s a regular thing. Bizarre either way. I’ve since been told it was a one off access issue and they usually have full access to both changing rooms.

On the opposite side is a stand that was erected in 2008. This “temporary” structure houses away supporters at Alloa games. There’s a small covered terrace behind one of the goals, with large areas of open terracing around the rest of the pitch. The capacity of the ground is 3,100. SWPL2 side Central Girls are also tenants of what must be a busy wee place. A 3G pitch was originally installed in 2007, and was upgraded in 2016. It’s a cracking wee ground, and even with a relatively small crowd managed to generate a good amount of noise.

The Teams

BSC Glasgow officially came into being in 2014, as a senior team affiliated with the longstanding Broomhill Sports Club, a multi-sport youth team from Glasgow’s west end. BSC Glasgow were formed with the intention of giving the sports club’s young players a pathway into senior football. They were accepted into the Lowland League for the 2014-15 season after entering into a groundsharing agreement with junior side Maryhill at Lochburn Park and obtaining their club licence. The club’s time at Lochburn was frought with issues, with games often being played at other junior grounds around Glasgow. When their two year agreement with Maryhill came to an end, the club unsuccesfully tried to find another suitable groundshare option in Glasgow. When no arrangement could be found, they approached Alloa Athletic about the possibility of groundsharing Recreation Park. This has resulted in home games being played over forty miles away from their traditional base in Broomhill for the past two seasons. The club has intentions of moving back to Glasgow in the near future, either in another groundsharing arrangement or at a facility of their own, although this has proved difficult in the past.

The club have had a successful season in the Lowland League, sitting fourth with three games remaining. They have a game in hand on third placed East Stirlingshire, who they are currently a point behind. They are all but guaranteed to finish in the top four and earn themselves a first ever spot in next season’s Irn Bru Cup. They have reached the semi-final of the South Challenge Cup this season where they’ll play Edusport Academy, but due to the inclement weather, this competition has yet to reach its’ conclusion.

East Kilbride were formed in 2010 as a result of a merger between local youth sides Jackton Boys Club and Stewartfield. The new club were formed with the intention of bringing senior football to the town, one of the largest in Scotland with no senior side, and giving youth players a pathway into senior football at the same time. Their first adult team played their first few seasons in the Scottish Amateur Football League, winning Division 2 in 2011-12, and Division 1 the following season. At the end of the 2012-13 season, the club applied to the South of Scotland Football League, and were accepted, finally bringing senior football to the town. Before kicking a ball in the SoSFL, the team were admitted as surprise founding members of the Lowland League, and gained a club license a few months later in April 2014. The club are based at K-Park Training Academy in Calderglen Country Park, and have initial plans to move to a new stadium when a site and funding can be secured.

The club have enjoyed huge success on the field, reaching six cup finals and winning them all, most recently less than a week ago in the East of Scotland Qualifying Cup win over Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale. In 2015-16, they reached the last 16 of the Scottish Cup, where they lost 2-0 to Scottish champions Celtic in a game that was played at Airdrie’s Excelsior Stadium. Last season, they won their maiden Lowland League title, and defeated Buckie Thistle in the Highland/Lowland playoff, before missing out on promotion to League Two on a penalty shoot-out against Cowdenbeath after a 1-1 aggregate draw. Former Scotland manager Billy Stark took over the team in the summer, and they sit second in the Lowland League, one point behind Spartans, each with three games to play. They’ll be looking to pile the pressure on their Edinburgh rivals with a win tonight.

The Game

The game was delayed by around seven minutes due to referee Craig Napier arriving to the ground late. We would probably have seen a more competent refereeing display if he hadn’t bothered showing up at all. Frustratingly inconsistent, touchy to the point of being soft, and just completely out of his depth from start to finish. I’ve seen some poor officiating displays before, but this one was right up there.

It was a tetchy start from both sides, something that would continue throughout. BSC had the first chance of the game on six minutes, when former Kilmarnock star Stevie Murray (who still looks a class act at 35) fired just over after a well worked corner. Just a minute later, BSC could have taken the lead when Matt McGinley in the Kilby goal failed to deal with a ball over the top, but the chance was cleared away. With sixteen minutes gone, the home supporters were on their feet as Tom Bentham crashed a 30 yard drive off the crossbar. Kilby were riding their luck at this point. But then the Craig Napier show began. With 23 minutes gone, a free kick from 25 yards out was thundered against the BSC wall and Napier pointed to the spot. Martin Grehan was shown a yellow card for handball, a decision that seemed harsh, as there didn’t look to be much intent from where I was sitting. Sean Winter stepped up but his penalty was spectacularly saved low at his left hand post by Ryan Marshall. Then, as Kilby were preparing to take their corner, Grehan was shown a second yellow card, presumably for dissent, and BSC were down to ten men with 65 minutes still to play.

With half an hour played there were huge shouts for handball in the East Kilbride box. With definite resemblance to the incident at the other end, Napier decided that nothing was doing this time. Kilby were starting to make their man advantage count, but poor finishing from Scott Stevenson kept the game goalless. East Kilbride did have the ball in the net after 35 minutes, but Sean Winter was judged to be in an offside position. It was 0-0 at half time in an entertaining, but strange game of football.

Just five minutes into the second half, Kilby took the lead in some style. A good passage of play found Craig Malcolm with the ball just on the edge of the D. He curled a gorgeous strike past Marshall into the bottom corner to send the sizeable visiting support into raptures. It was a truly excellent goal. But BSC were not giving up, and despite being a man down, were enjoying the bulk of possession. Stevie Murray was causing the Kilby defence all sorts of problems on the right hand side, but despite sending three quality crosses into the box, BSC couldn’t find a finish.

BSC were creating much more than Kilby, who were fighting hard but not able to connect their midfield to their forwards. Barry Russell was a titan at the back, cutting out several potentially dangerous balls and shepherding his defence with real vigour. In the last five minutes, Murray won a dubious free kick for BSC around 25 yards out. He slammed his effort just over the bar. Two minutes later, he put a fantastic cross into the box, but Bentham could only divert his header straight at the grateful McGinley in the Kilby goal. The game couldn’t end without Craig Napier making himself the centre of attention one more time though. In stoppage time, following the most innocuous of “incidents” he saw fit to book both Ross McMillan and Stevie Murray of BSC for alleged dissent. To add insult, he then sent BSC coach Michael Moore to the stand. It was a fitting end to one of the most bizarre – yet fantastically entertaining – games I’ve seen all season.

This was my third time seeing East Kilbride this season, and it was comfortably the worst performance I’ve seen from them. But they dug very deep and fought to the end. They say that it’s performances like this that can win championships, and if they can dig out results like this, the title run in will be spectacular.

The Pies

I had a fairly heavy lunch and dinner today, so I eschewed Alloa’s fantastic range of pies and hot rolls. In the queue for a Bovril, however, I saw the sign for the famous Recreation Park lentil soup. I’ve heard about how good this soup is for years, and decided to try it. At £1 a cup it is absolutely fantastic value. A thick, hearty and ultimately very tasty snack. And as promised, the spoon really does stand up by itself in the cup! This is a legendary snack bar for a reason, and a must visit if you ever find yourself at the ground.

Admission: £7
Programme: £2
Pie: £2-£2.50. Soup £1
Bovril: £1.50
Attendance: 200 (approx headcount)