Whitburn Junior 5 Livingston United 3

East Of Scotland League, First Division Conference X, Saturday November 20th

A first for me on Saturday saw me at my maiden Scottish football game, an East of Scotland First Division Conference X encounter between Whitburn Junior & Livingston United, and it saw the hosts net five as they came out on top in an eight goal thriller at Central Park.

I was up in Whitburn for a housewarming on the Friday night and discovered the local football team were indeed at home on the Saturday, so I thought perfect, as their Central Park ground was half a mile walk from my hotel, so it was the obvious choice amongst many fixtures in that area that was for sure.

The East Of Scotland League is made up of four divisions, Premier, 1^st Division Conference A, B & X, and this encounter was in the latter of those, Whitburn have had a decent season so far, they sat fourth in the standings (it is an eleven team Division) having won eight, drawn two and lost three of their thirteen games so far.

Livingston United were only two places and six points below their opponents, but it looked much more than that when you saw that the visitors had won six, drawn two and lost five of their thirteen games, goal differences were much much different too, Whitburn’s was plus eighteen whilst Livingston United minus three, so a home win would be expected no?

Both teams had won last weekend though, Whitburn won a big local derby at Armadale Thistle, the team directly above them in third, whilst Livingston United also won on the road at seventh placed Stoneyburn to put a seven-point gap between them and their opponents as a result, so both sides were coming into this one with confidence.

However, on my way up to Scotland on Friday I saw on Twitter that the hosts manager Jamie Sandilands had resigned from the club and taken up the managerial reigns at Rossvale FC who ply their trade in the West of Scotland Premier Division with immediate effect, a blow to the hosts a day before this game then and left me scratching my head thinking had a brought them bad luck!!!

Their current coaching team therefore stepped up into the management positions and they quickly acted to bring in former manager Robert Lee to assist them with the coaching, how would they do in their first league game in their new positions, we would find out soon enough.

After obtaining my Scotch Pie and Irn Bru (well I was in Scotland after all so have to try the local cuisine) I can confirm the pie was good although the drink was a bit too sickly for my liking, but nonetheless a good way to get me ready for this contest, and before I speak about the action on the pitch I was told about this level not having a linesman, and so it proved.

Basically there is a referee, who makes all the calls including offsides, which no doubt causes a world of issues for him and the clubs involved, there are two people with a flag, one from each club, but all they do is stand around the half way line on each side and flag if the ball goes out for a throw in, that is literally all they do, it’s certainly different up here in that respect at this level.

To the game then and the hosts opened the scoring just before the midway point of the first period when their number nine received a quickly taken corner from the right, burst into the box before curling a delightful effort with the outside of his boot into the top corner, the home side had certainly been the better up till that point so deserved that lead.

Seven minutes before the break Whitburn made it two when lovely play saw their eleven break the offside trap down the right before his ball into the box was swept home by the hosts skipper into the far corner of the net, and then two minutes before the break it was 3-0 as Livingston’s defence was carved open again as eleven did well down the right hand side before playing a ball across to ten who was in acres of space and he strode in to slot home, and Whitburn had a three goal cushion to take into the dressing room at the break.

And when seven produced a fabulous finish five minutes into the second period, receiving a pass and firing an unstoppable shot in off the bar to make it 4-0, you felt this could be a absolute drubbing, but it did not turn out that way in the end as the hosts rather took their eye off the ball for the final half hour or so.

They gave away a penalty around the hour mark, and although the home keeper saved this with his legs, the visitors continued to have a decent spell and pulled one back with just under twenty minutes remaining after a lovely flick released their seventeen in on goal and he slotted home, giving them a consolation at least.

With twelve minutes left though the game suddenly took a different complexion when Livingston pulled another one back as the home side went to sleep once again and allowed a simple ball over the top to be run onto by the sixteen who strode in and thumped home, and suddenly you could sense the nervousness amongst the home contingent, surely the visitors could not pull of a remarkable recovery?

Whitburn had been in cruise control at 4-0, but they needed something to spark them into life again, and that came with nine minutes to go when they eased everyone’s nerves by grabbing a fifth after their eighteen volleyed home from inside the box, and that was pretty much that, and although the visitors did add a late third when a lovely one two on the edge of the box released seven in on goal and he fired into the bottom corner, it was job done for the home side.

An interesting last quarter of the game then after the home side had been in total control, no doubt their new management duo would not have been happy with how they let their opponents back into this contest, but the post Jamie Sandilands era did begin with three points, also fair play to Livingston for not giving up at 4-0, many sides may have done, so that was a credit to them for sure.

A thoroughly enjoyable visit then to Central Park, a very good watch and lots of goals, what more could you ask for, and as the home side say….”Mon The Burnie!!!”

Full Time Whitburn Junior 5 Livingston United 3