Petehead vs Montrose
24th July 2010
Alba Challenge Cup 1st Round
Well here we go, off on a journey that will see us travel the length and breadth of Scotland, hell we'll even nip south of the border at some point to see Berwick Rangers.
When I mentioned to my dad a few months back that it would be great one day to visit all the grounds in Scottish football I never thought he would see this as a challenge and go away and work out all the logistics and then two weeks ago present me with a schedule. I'm amazed he thinks he can fit it all in around using his season ticket for Kilmarnock as well.
He's worked it out so that we can get to those grounds furthest away during the light summer months and kept us close to home during the winter.
It's with this in mind that we're off to Peterhead today to watch them play against Montrose in an Alba Challenge Cup 1st round tie. My dad reckons it'll take us a good four hours to get up to Peterhead but that we should leave at 10am in case we come across any problems. I think he's being a little bit cautious but as he's going to be doing the driving for most of these games I'm happy to follow his estimation.
Last night I sat myself down in front of the computer and put together a couple of cd's for us to listen to. It's hard gauging something we'll both be happy to listen to but I've stuck in the usual suspects, The Beach Boys, Stones, Beatles and a few more obscure numbers. Anyway I hope he likes it.
It's an early Saturday morning start for me, earlier than I've had in a while and I'm now thinking I should have headed home from the pub long before closing time. By the time I pull up at Cramond, shortly after 10am, my dad is already sat in his motor. He's a bit eager to get started it seems.
The journey up to Peterhead was lovely. The weather was beautiful, traffic light and he liked the cd. It seemed like it took us no time at all to cover the 161 miles and I have to inform you that my dads time and distance calculation was out by a good ninety minutes - here's hoping he takes this on board for future games.
Driving into the town we pass a small scaled fairground and try as I might my dads not up for a shot on the Waltzers to kill some time. We make our way along to Balmoor Stadium and find that we can park right beside the ground. We've got loads of time to spare so we sit back, tune the radio in for Off the Ball on Radio Scotland, tuck in to the pack lunch my girlfriend, Emma, has made for us and read the papers.
At 2.30pm we head over to the ground, being sure to get a photo outside the ground to prove we were here. Whilst I 'm buying a programme for the match my dad nips in to the Club Shop to purchase what will no doubt be the first of many Club pin badges.
We make our way in to the ground and straight away are faced with a dilemma - shall we sit in the old stand or the new one? We decide we'll head to where the most fans are sitting in the hope that we'll soak up the atmosphere.
The game kicks off bang on 3pm and it's Peterhead who make all the early running and it's their veteran striker Dennis Wyness who opens the scoring seven minutes in with a delightful lob over the keeper from the edge of the area.
Just before half time Montrose's Daryl Nicol had the chance to draw the sides level when he found himself on the end of a cross in to the six yard box but somehow he managed to head past the post.
Half time.
Both of us have followed a fair bit of football over the years and I can safely say that neither of us have gone down the cup of Bovril at half time, that stuff is nasty. It has always been the scotch pie for us and with another forty one grounds to go and no doubt there's a fair bit of expectation as we head off in search of them.
At £1.50 a pop they're not going to sell too many of these over the season at Peterhead. It's got a right soggy pastry bottom and its tiny. Here's hoping that we don't find too many of these over our travels.
We make our way back to our seats and settle in for the second half.
Peterhead started the second half with a flourish and Neil McVitie went close with a dipping effort that hit the top of the crossbar. It didn't take too much longer for the second goal to arrive however as a Callum McDonald header was unluckily deflected by Montrose defender Allan Campbell past his own keeper.
Just before the hour mark Peterhead scored a third and the game was effectively over. Wyness scored his second goal when he got on the end of a cut back into the box.
With ten minutes left we were treated to an absolute pearler of a goal from Peterhead midfielder Paul Emslie. He picked the ball up on the half way line and took a few steps forward, looking up he must have noticed keeper Bennett off his line and he unleashed a shot from all of forty five yards that went straight in to the top corner.
Finally with this goal we got a song or two of the home supporters. A tough act to please obviously.
Dennis Wyness went close to a first day hat-trick but the woodwork denied him. Peterhead weren't to be denied a fifth however when fifteen minutes before time Martin Bavidge fired in from a tight angle.
At full time I turned to my dad and thanked him for choosing this as the first game. I only hope we're as lucky for the remaining forty one games.
The statistics:
Ticket price: £12 (£6 concessions - Dad)
Programme: £2
Attendance: 357 (12 Montrose fans, at the most)
Pie: £1.50
Pie marks: 4.5/10
Man of the match: Me - Callum Macdonald (Peterhead) / Dad - Graeme Sharp (Peterhead)
Final score: 5-0
Mileage: 322 miles
Fact of the day: Balmoor is the furthest league ground in Scotland from a railway station, Aberdeen being the closest.
Next ground: Strathclyde Home Stadium - Dumbarton (25th July)
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