Just sixty nine days after watching my boys Inverness Caledonian Thistle put on a brave show in the 2023 Scottish Cup Final, the next edition of the competition was off and running. As the number of licensed clubs grows, those who have won certain leagues and cups, even if non-licensed, can enter. The need for two Preliminary rounds might well continue to increase going forward as more clubs look to apply for a licence. Both these rounds, played within a short passage of time, this season saw three (usually two) clubs from Scotland’s most northerly pyramid league, The North Caledonian League involved. Two of the three would be headed south, with one involved for the very first time, while Fort William would host Clydebank. These sides highlight the divergent world of the new and the old aspects in the Scottish non-league game.
Previously, those affiliated to the Scottish Football Association were predominantly from the East of Scotland and Highland leagues, as well as a handful from the South of Scotland league. However there were some anomalies with the likes of Girvan, Burntisland Shipyard and Golspie Sutherland, all licensed to enter annually. Back in the day it was always a mystery what leagues some of these clubs played in, especially Burntisland Shipyard, who seemed to dot around the local Kirkcaldy area amateur leagues before they found a successful home in the East of Scotland league, as well as abandoning their amateur status. No more 14-0 or 7-0 losses that I witnessed at Bonnyrigg and Huntly in those more mythical days of the Shipyard. A number of years ago I journeyed to Sutherland to bring a tale between Golspie and the newly semi-professional Burntisland to life for Football Weekends, and this season the North side are on the road to the Scottish borders to face Hawick in Preliminary Round 2, more soon.
First up though is a story that makes the magic of football come alive, with not one, but two clubs making their Scottish Cup debut. Brownlands Park, Luncarty in South Perthshire near Perth was the venue for this little slice of Scottish football history. The home side, Luncarty, nicknamed The Bleachers after a local bleaching works founded the club in 1886, had won the Alex Jack Cup (competition for non licensed clubs in the East), then gone toe to toe with similar winners from the South and West to claim the one spot available in this seasons Cup.
The visitors from the North are the fast growing cult side Loch Ness FC, whose entertaining shirt variations season on season see their sales far exceed the number who regularly turn up to watch them play, sadly. The club was only founded in 1999 and originally they played in Inverness, but with a crowded field in the Highland Capital, where Caledonian Thistle, Clachnacuddin and fellow North Caledonian side Inverness Athletic play, has more recently seen Loch Ness taking to playing across the Kessock Bridge on the Black Isle in Fortrose. They were league Champions last season, a first significant honour for the club, and that success gave them access to this season’s Scottish Cup. It might have also afforded Loch Ness access to a play off to gain promotion to the Highland League, but without the necessary facilities at their King George V Park in Fortrose, that avenue was closed, and bottom club Strathspey Thistle retained their position unchallenged as Midland League winners Carnoustie Panmure had the same issues.
Luncarty is just five minutes up the A9 from Perth by car or a little longer via the local bus, where the Brownlands ground is right on the main road through the village on your left hand side. It is squashed between road and rail with a high embankment and short viaduct that carries the rail routes between Perth and Inverness on the opposite side of the ground. The sense of anticipation was palpable as I walked into the quaint little ground. The Luncarty kids’ side were all striped and excited to be involved in the parade of both teams down the stairs from the changing rooms for a halfway line snapshot capturing this Scottish Cup moment in history ahead of kick off.
The Perthshire side had gone into abeyance during the pandemic as some did, and like others in such a position, those involved in running the club partly feared they might never emerge. They did start up again, and last season they didn’t just win the competition to get into the Scottish Cup, they also celebrated promotion from the East of Scotland First Division (tier 7) to the Premier League. Acclimatising to the higher level was always going to take time, and ahead of this match, The Bleachers had lost all three league matches. There was undoubtedly merit in having those competitive games under their belt, as Loch Ness took to the field for their first, with the North Caledonian League just starting up the same day. Orkney, Scotland’s most northerly pyramid club (a separate club side entity from the County team that took part in the Island Games etc ) would have to wait a week longer for a first match with Loch Ness involved here.
What a truly compelling contest this was too. Loch Ness’s lack of competitive action saw them far too tentative in the early exchanges, and even with post and bar rattled, they resolutely refused to become more expansive. Luncarty kept chipping away, and bagged a brace to head in at the turn two goals to the good. Loch Ness played with more freedom after the break, and started to give it a rousing go, The Bleachers were finally being tested. On another day the visitors might have been awarded a penalty, with clear sight of goal why would the forward just fall to the ground! He was subtly fouled and prevented having a clean strike on goal, but the officials waved play on. It had the effect of ramping up the Loch Ness resolve, and they deservedly pulled a goal back, it really was game on. The cavalier style was admirable, and forcing a brillant save and then a header that just fizzed by. Luncarty weren’t entirely tucked in soaking up attacks, they had menace on the break and as the clock was running down, one of those raids allowed a relatively soft third. Loch Ness kept going forward but they weren’t to register again. Luncarty had won this battle of the new Scottish Cup boys, and the reward for that was a trip to Newton Stewart in Wigtownshire in the South West of Scotland, where ironically I headed to a couple of seasons ago for the magazine when Coldstream were in town, the same day as Golspie Sutherland last visited Hawick, a clash of two old Cup hands in a repeat fixture in the second Preliminary Round.
While the two newbies were entering the competition at the end of August, two old stagers of the Scottish Cup Hawick Royal Albert and Golspie Sutherland took to the Albert Park pitch a few weeks later. Oddly Golspie were well versed on this considerable trek into the Scottish Borders as they had played here not just once, but twice in the last dozen years. On the first occasion in 2011 the hosts were Gala Fairydean, some 20 miles up the road from Hawick, and as I turned up at Netherdale, Galashiels for the match, only then did I discover the laying of a new artificial surface had resulted in the game being moved. It was a quick scamper further down the A7. Gala are from a much higher league, playing in the Lowland League (5th tier) and they easily won that contest 4-1. Just two year’s ago Golspie were back, this time playing Hawick, the match I missed. Naturally by virtue of me being absent, they won, 2-0.
With the new Scottish pyramid now fully up and running, the intervening two years since the first encounter haven’t been too kind to Hawick, or indeed many from the Scottish Borders. As the pyramid system beds in, double, even treble promotions and relegation’s are commonplace, as clubs strive to find their level. The Borders is a case in point for the downward movement sadly, partly due to always being in competition with rugby in its heartland in Scotland.
For example, on this Scottish Cup afternoon, Albert Park is the last of three sporting venues as you walk along the river from the centre of Hawick. The other two grounds are rugby facilities, and rather bizarrely all three were playing at the same time, with the biggest crowd reserved for Hawick v Glasgow Hawks in the rugby National Leagues. Why the different codes don’t speak to each other and volunteer a different kick-off is beyond me. That said, try asking Golspie to move the game from 3pm on a Saturday for sure would have been met with a refusal I am pretty sure, as it is quite an arduous round trip on any given day. Since the 2021 encounter, Hawick have been relegated twice, and now reside in the 9th tier of Scottish football, although a coupon busting away win at leaders Bathgate Thistle the week before this match must have given the team hope.
By contrast Golspie Sutherland, like Loch Ness hail from the North Caledonian League, which was just a northern league sitting separately before the pyramid came along. It is now tier six in the North, the bottom rung with the like of Thurso, Halkirk, Tain St Duthus, Invergordon, Bonor Bridge and Orkney also participants, as well as the first Highland League relegated club, the cult that is Fort William FC. Promotion from this league requires the necessary ground facilities approval to step up, and if that is all fine, they then have a play off with Midland League winners first (assuming they meet the criteria too), then play versus the Highland League bottom club to clinch promotion. So far, this situation hasn’t arisen, and for now, aside from Fort William, who are kean to get back up, it is debatable how many in the league have ambition to step up. With the Highland League largely a Moray and Aberdeenshire centric affair, the player commitment is far greater with more frequent and lengthy travel required, just as a Wick player!
On a gloriously sunny, early autumnal day the two sides took to the dry and bumpy pitch for this second preliminary round clash. There was very little between them from the off, and chances were at a premium. Hawick’s lads were generally slightly taller and had more physique about them, but conversely, Golspie worked better as a unit. A rather innocuous free-kick saw a yellow card brandished, but what happened next remains a mystery as it wasn’t until a half-time chat with the four travelling Golpsie fans (hats off to them) that I discovered I had completely missed the appearance of a red before the free kick was even taken. He must have said something, but I would have expected an Etna eruption around the ref and noise from the volatile Hawick bench, whose manager did get booked in the second half, but nothing, it was weird. The lad must have left the field as quiet as a field mouse! We can all get momentarily distracted at a game, but usually something like a red card isn’t missed as the outcry alone is usually sufficient to re-focus. Before the break, and ahead of realising the home side were short a player, Golspie took the lead following a nice inter-change on the baubly pitch.
Sure enough, a head count at the start of the second period confirmed I had totally missed the red card, but in truth it didn’t alter anything in the way the game panned out. Maybe Golspie enjoyed a little more possession, but Hawick worked hard and deservedly found an equaliser. The replay has been completely taken away from the Scottish Cup now and potentially we were headed to Extra-Time, where I think Golspie would have won anyway, as late corners were racking up, as Hawick were visibly tiring being a man light, and on a hot day. As it was, Golspie found a late winner to the delight of those of us here to cheer on the northern side. The referee seemed to add on no additional time, but his whistle brought great joy for the Golspie players and management. Progression alone gets the club an extra few thousand pounds, vital funds at this level.
This was my first ever Golspie win at the 5th time of asking spanning those 12 years since their first match with Gala here in Hawick. Golspie now enter the first round of the competition proper, as did Luncarty who had headed to Newton Stewart on the same day, winning 4-1 to guarantee a third Scottish Cup tie on their CV. I wish them both well in the next round.
Football Adventures with James Rendall 