Pride At Stake

Monday evening brought about the chance to tick off another ground, Brig O'Lea Stadium was the venue for the last Super Premier League match of the season. Home of junior club Neilston who were playing hosts to Junior Cup winners Auchinleck Talbot. The reason for this fixture being played so late in the season was due to Talbot's cup exploits taking priority to their league duties, leaving them with many fixtures to complete in recent weeks. Even the tannoy announcer joked that it was a pre-season friendly match. Neilston were rock bottom and relegated long ago, whilst Talbot still had a chance to finish third ahead of Beith if they were to win.

First thing I noticed when arriving at the ground was the smell of manure from the local farm land, which explained straight away why they're nicknamed The Farmer's Boys. The ground had a sheltered terrace on the far side, access all round the ground to stand and a dugout on each long side of the pitch. To my surprise they had floodlights, which is a bit of a rarity at this level, whether they use them or work is another thing. Not the best looked after of grounds and open to the elements, even the smell!

In the early stages it was apparent that Talbot were much more comfortable on the ball and were taking the game to Neilston, although they looked threatening on the counter. After about quarter of an hour Neilston had the lead against the run of play, a cool finish on the counter that wrong-footed the unsighted Adam Strain in the Talbot goal.

Double the time later and the lead was doubled. Very similar to a goal I'd seen on Saturday at Newlandsfield, a lobbed own goal, Gaughan was the unfortunate Talbot defender to produce a superb finish at the wrong end. Only a few minutes later the deficit was halved by veteran striker Stevie Mallan who nodded in from close range. The interval came and Talbot made a triple change with Mallan and two trialists departing.

The second period was mainly Talbot huffing and puffing, but getting nowhere, the final ball and finish was lacking. Neilston killed off any comeback hopes with a simple counter attack goal which knocked the momentum out of Talbot as the rest of the game petered out.

Full Time – Neilston 3-1 Auchinleck Talbot

My final game of the season will be my next one, Thursday evening finally brings a close to the junior season as Pollok take on Irvine Meadow in the Evening Times Cup final at the neutral venue of Newlandsfield (home of Pollok). Not to worry though, pre-season friendlies will be starting at the beginning of July, which isn't too far away. I intend to try a different format when I post my next entry that I'll hopefully use all next season when I really begin this blog.