Saturday 16th March 2024 ko 14:00

East of Scotland League Premier Division

KINNOULL 0

PENICUIK ATHLETIC 0

Att 356

Entry £7

Programme £2

Like some others I’d heard the so-called experts’ opinion on Kinnoull and their home Tulloch Park. If some were to be believed we’d be visiting a dull ground, and a club on their knees. While it was true that at kick-off Kinnoull had just 4 points all season, there had to more to it than witnessing a club having a poor season?

As we approached suburban Perth I found myself looking at the psychology of groundhopping. I’ve long since tried to remove artifice from it, my view is “Here’s a game, at a ground” and most other factors tend to be little more than noise to me. That said, I was very taken with the view expressed by some when the hop visited Inverkeithing at their former home at Ballast Bank. That was,

“Would I travel up for this ground as a one-off? Probably not, but as part of 4 grounds in a day? Absolutely yes”

We parked up, and within seconds the pieces began to fall into place. Yes, Kinnoull are struggling, and they were mourning the death of a committee member here, but it was an afternoon I’ll remember with no little fondness. There was a genuine decency about what they did here. I queued up for food, and there was something other than pies on offer- I did enjoy my Stovie. As I sat there pondering when the teamlines were going to be posted, there was an official writing the board out. They also made sure that the loss of a Penicuik committee man during the previous week was included in the tribute before kick-off.

And if you’re thinking that these are simple enough requests, you’d be correct, but then think how many times you’ve seen Chris, Craig or I have to chase them up? When the news came through that a club official had given a couple of our more enthusiastic beer drinkers a lift to a pub into as there isn’t a bar at the ground, the view that this was a club that had clearly thought long and hard about how they were going to host and did it beautifully. And for the record, while Tulloch Park isn’t in my top 10 grounds visited by a long shot, that doesn’t mean I didn’t like the place. It’s a place of backdrops, be it trees, the houses forming geometric shapes in grey, or even the factory to one side.

Some groundhoppers don’t like nil-nil draws, but the vast majority look quixotically at those types, it is a perfectly valid scoreline after all. Here I suspect it may well have been predictable, a host club desperate for points any way they can get them, and a visiting team having by their standards, a disappointing season. It was a turgid affair to watch, Penicuik had one chance to win it, and Kinnoull hit the crossbar with the last kick of the game, but truth be known the stalemate was the fairest result.

Not every game can be a classic, and perhaps this game made the final game of the day at Sauchie seem so much better, but for all of that I’ll remember the folks at Kinnoull for their decency and welcome, despite difficult circumstances. All the best to them.