Sunday 16th March 2025 ko 12:30

East of Scotland League Third Division

LINTON HOTSPUR 2 (Martin 4 McLean 49)

LIVINGSTON UNITED 0

Att 372

Entry £5

Programme £2

Sunday’s fixture on the Scottish Hop saw a complete change of locale. We’d spent a day and a half visiting industrial, and post-industrial towns in the Central Belt. Now it was time to head south and make for the border.

It’s important not to head to East Linton that’s in East Lothian and around 35 miles from Hotspur’s home of West Linton. You’re in Peeblesshire, in the midst of the rolling Pentland Hills; its a place of history and agriculture and Craig, Robyn and I had spotted New Moor Road on our way home from Penicuik a couple of years ago.

Unlike most of the other clubs on this year’s hop Linton came into the East of Scotland League via the amateur ranks, specifically the Border Amateur League. This is their second season at this level and from the moment we arrived it was obviously this is a club with both the resources and the ambition to progress.

It was an afternoon where the 4 of us who organize this event could do virtually nothing, save for Craig doing the head count, and even that didn’t require a conclave to sort out, and watch Linton Hotspur cruise to another win, and eventually promotion. It was a lovely way to end what was a highly successful hop.

Our thanks as ever should go to all those who helped make this edition of the Scottish Hop happen, be that officials, volunteers, drivers, or spectators. There is the ironic twist that if we’d have known that in essence Clyde and Hamilton will be swapping stadia for next season would we have visited Cumbernauld Colts? I’d like to think we would have, and I certainly have no regrets that we did.

It was a hop of contrasts. Some places we caught clubs on the up, others on the wane, and one in serious trouble, but at all of the grounds I’d like to think we made for a positive visit. On to the next one!