Day Nine: Elgin City (Borough Briggs)

Elgin City v East Stirlingshire

21st August (3pm Kick-off)

Second time this season we're off to watch East Stirlingshire away from home and it's another huge drive, this time to Elgin. As such it's been requested that I meet my dad at his house at 10.15am for the 170 mile drive north.

The drive up the A9 is uneventful but the drive from Granton-on-Spey up the A95 to Elgin was gorgeous. I if I ever win Euro Lotto I've seen a house or two up there that I could be more than happy in. We arrive in Elgin a mere 50 minutes before kick off, park up and tuck in to the pack lunch lovingly prepared this morning at early o'clock by Emma. After lunch we join the throngs flooding into Borough Briggs.

My dad tells me the last time he was here was back in '72 to watch his beloved Kilmarnock beat Elgin 4 - 1 in a Scottish Cup game. I hope this game gives us the same enjoyment that would have given him.

This looks like being the cheapest ground yet as it's only £8 for me and £4 for my dad. We take a wander around the ground trying to decide if we'll stand in the open behind either goal, under shelter on the terracing or sat in the stand. I was 38 last week and I'm getting on a bit so we decide on a seat in the stand.

On our way towards the stand we make a stop to buy a Pie. Turns out the Club Shop is located within the Pie stand. You can normally just get a pie, Bovril or Mars-Bar at the pie stand not here, here you can buy your Elgin City memorabilia. I doubt we'll find this anywhere else in Scotland. My dad awards this a 7 out of 10, "it's a good pie, but it's not quite up to the Motherwell pie last weekend".

As we try to take a seat in the stand, we're asked to pay a further £2 each for the privilege. Weird, why don't they just charge you £10 at the gates?

Sitting in the stand we see the same East Stirlingshire fans we saw at Annan and they're just as noisy. This time they've brought four or five of those vuvuzela horns with them, something the ground announcer has noticed "For all those away fans with those vuvuzela horns this is just for you" and he proceeded to play a war tune of sorts that finished with a flourish of machine gun noise - brilliant effort. Still it doesn't dampen the away fans' spirit, actually I think a few of them have been on the spirits already.

The game kicks off and we wait almost 20 minutes for the first attempt when a Craig Tully diving header goes just wide of the East Stirlingshire post. The first shot on target comes after 28 minutes. Riveting is not how I'd describe the football on show.

The home side missed a great chance to score on the stroke of half time when Inglis played a great ball into the box only for Crooks to blast the ball over from eight yards. Both managers are going to have to work some magic at half time to brighten up this game.

In the first minute of the second half a back pass by the away team's David Dunn is woefully short and Craig Gunn picks it up and, with a straight run in on goal, finishes it off by blasting the ball high and wide of the goal, it was a great chance to take the lead.

The next 30 minutes are pretty awful and it looks looks like we might be in for our first nil-nil draw. However, in the 77th minute the Elgin City keeper, Scott Bain, takes too long to clear a back pass and it's charged down by East Sirlingshire's Kelly. The keeper, who happens to be making his debut on loan from Aberdeen, brings him down and receives a yellow card for his troubles. No sooner has he picked himself up than he's picking the ball out the back of the net, as David Dunn sends him the wrong way. The home players are furious with the referee however as scorer does the 'stop start run up' before shooting. I'm sure this has been outlawed for this season and the kick should've been re-taken but the goal stands.

East Stirlingshire's second goal is a belter, a free kick from 30 yards from Jamie Stevenson which gave the keeper no chance and the away fans celebrate wildly. The only downside for the away team is the fact Paul Miller gets himself sent off in injury time for a second bookable offence. I can't actually tell what he did as it was an off the ball incident spotted only by the linesman. I can tell you that it had something to do with Elgin's Neil McDonald; he'd been winding up the away players for 90 minutes.

The game finishes two nil to East Stirlingshire and this result leaves Elgin rooted to the bottom of Division Three with no points from three games and a -8 goal difference. Looks like a long season ahead for them.

The Statistics
Ticket: £8 (£4) An extra £2 each to sit in the stand.

Programme: £2

Attendance: 602

Pie: £1.30

Pie Marks: 7/10

Man of the Match: Dad - Jake Inglis (Elgin City) Me - I can't think of one player who deserves this accollade

Final Score: Elgin City 0 - East Stirlingshire 2

Mileage: 370 miles

Fact of the Day: Elgin's ground is the most northern professional ground in Scotland

Next Game: Alloa - Recreation Park (August 24th)