East Kilbride FC

 It's a number of years since I completed the Scottish 42, even more in reality as I ended up doing 47/48 with promoted teams added into the mix. However since their meteoric rise to Scottish League One, East Kilbride had evaded me until now. An outpost suburb of Glasgow, links to the stadium are not very good at all, with the nearest one still requiring a mile walk, I managed to get within 1.5 mile going, coming back with a 45 minute wait I took on the 2.5 mile walk back to the hotel the other side of town. The ground sits on the edge of a national park and it really does have beautiful surroundings, the ground itself, the bumblebee stadium is very small, I didn't realise how small until I got there with a capacity of only 700, given that the terrace behind the goal is given to away fans that just leaves the seated stand along the side for home fans. The other two sides are not for spectators. The crowd was 421 on the night so I was relieved to have bought a ticket through the excellent fan base app beforehand. The opposition was Celtic B in the Scottish Challenge Cup League Stage.

Upon arrival at Glasgow I had planned to eat at a favourite of mine, the blue lagoon fish and chip restaurant, just a stones throw from Central Station. However I was pushed for time to get to Kilbride, luckily upon a quick internet search I was pleased to see they had a branch in East Kilbride, however upon closer inspection this was in the completely wrong direction to where I was staying so, with plenty of walking to do I decided to accept defeat and the blue lagoon will have to wait for another day. Luckily there was a small food retail park near the hotel with various fast food chains so one of those sufficed for lunch. I had managed to bag my tea on the way up in Carlisle, as I visited the brilliant Gretna Bakery and obtained a Mince and Carrot Pie and a Jam Doughnut with the most jam in I've ever known a doughnut to have, absolutely top class that place and very good value.

Upon arrival at the ground with tired legs and a full belly, there was nothing left for me to do really, I was called for a search at the gate, despite not carrying anything then after declining a 50 50 ticket (which wasn't announced anyway) I made my way in. To my delight next to the turnstile is the wooden merchandise shack, with a selection of pin badges priced at £3.50 each, so I bought one and took my seat. I didn't know what to expect from the home team but they must be effective at what they do given recent success, I was expecting Celtic B to show some talent as kick off approached. A word on the ground, it is actually their training ground and technically they are homeless, if they are to continue their rise, we may see them relocate elsewhere in the future unless K Park can be developed to increase capacity. 

In the early stages there was some really good football from Kilbride, they had the youngsters of Celtic B on the back foot and you could see why they've been successful for the past few years, strong, a threat and they have a plan to hurt teams. They nearly forced an own goal from the Celtic number 4 which he was relieved to see go just over his bar, then some slick passing was almost too slick, overplayed and came to nothing. The winger number 33 was wreaking havoc in the opening stages and looked a real threat. Then out of nothing the Celtic forward switched on the turbo chargers, showing great speed to race away from desperate East Kilbride players and with the keeper in no man's land, but alas he had no support and the chance was gone. There was no doubt in my mind Celtic B were talented but they looked weak against the strong home side which included former York city defender Darragh o connor. 17 minutes in and it was the 33 again, good play down the left and a neat finish gave the home side a deserved lead, to the delight of the vocal youngsters in the home end. Celtic were growing into the game though and seemingly calming down, maybe I mistook their weakness for nerves. On 26 minutes that pace was on show again to get through the back line and lob the keeper but the shot hit the bar and was headed away well by a recovering defender. However a minute later, with confidence up, Celtic B somehow had a spare man on the left, a good pass found him and he made no mistake to level the scores, 1.1

Four minutes before the break and a simple ball forward by the Celtic B left back set the winger free and running with the home defence once more caught ball watching. He shot across goal finding the bottom corner and the away side tool a deserved lead into the interval, doing so well to turn it around after a horror start.

East Kilbride came out for the second half with a flea in their ear by the looks of it with a good period of sustained pressure. They had the ball in the net twice within 15 mins but the linesmans flag went up on both occasions. They brought on number 9 who seemed a bit of a cult hero and looked like one of those forwards who just gets the job done. He didn't disappoint and on 68 minutes an excellent long ball up to him and he showed good control and awareness to square it to the oncoming number 19 on the left, 2.2 and not done yet. Eleven minutes from time the East Kilbride manager was irate after not been given a penalty decision, which I must admit did look to be one. The referee first went over and booked him, however he had no quicker walked away that he turned back again and gave him another yellow, then a red and he was sent from the dugout, a case of stop talking whilst your ahead sadly for him he kept talking, well done referee. Two minutes later it's maybe a good thing the manager was off, a long goal kick from the Celtic keeper should have been routinely dealt with but a weak back header from the home defender left number 7 with an easy chance to race through and convert. Talking about the Celtic number 7 he was one of these modern footballers who likes to spend more time posing, pretending he is hurt and general gamesmanship than just playing the game, I don't like that sort of player and if he thinks he's already made it in the game then he needs to wise up. I was delighted though in the 93rd minute that he had his hands on his head as East Kilbride snatched a dramatic equaliser to gain a 3.3 draw. The number 9 showed outstanding power and perseverance to wriggle past Celtic players before smashing the ball into the net.

I kept the Scottish food theme going on the way home, again south of the border in Carlisle, with a Steak and Haggis Pie from Pie Demand on the station, priced at £4 and highly recommended.