Club fixture v Dunfermline Carnegie Sun 23 Oct HMS Caledonia, Rosyth

Scottish Thistles had 13 players in the squad and faced a Dunfermline side that had found itself having to draft in two youngsters aged 13 following late withdrawals. Our men thought it difficult to play against such slight boys for fear of hurting them but they needn't have worried. In spite of trying they never got close enough. Showing sublime skills and a complete disregard for seniority they were a constant threat with continuous movement (remember that?) that only reduced as the afternoon wore on and their bedtime approached. The game was nevertheless largely controlled by Thistles in midfield but George Black guesting in the Home goal was rarely troubled. Even when we scored he didn't know much about it but then again nor did anybody else. It was a penalty corner and whether there was a misdirected shot at goal or attempted pass to the injector, Alan Auld, running in to the near post is anybody's guess. What was indisputable was the ball rolling to the back of Alan who, with a despairing & unseeing sweep of his stick around his rear, made some sort of contact which nudged the ball goalward leaving George bewitched, bothered and bewildered. Join the club.

Dunfermline responded with two goals to take the lead one being a solo effort by a snotty wee 13 (that's XIII to us) year old who rounded (the operative word) our defence after most of the midfield before slotting one past Chris. As the game went into the last quarter Thistles pressed on. Rab, playing at the back for Dunfermline, and Alex, playing at the front for Thistles, had vigorous discussions on who exactly had pushed who first. The umpire thought it was a dead heat. Anyway in one smooth move - well the one smooth move that carried on a bit - nice interpassing saw Pete Burns get the ball in the circle & calmly push it inside the post leaving George with no chance. That was 2 -2 and so it remained - a perfect result for a friendly match though decidedly competitively played. All Scottish LX club members then could troop off the pitch with a smile on their faces. Wish I had a camera.

After all this we even had more to smile about in the Rosyth C.S. clubhouse where soup & a sandwich washed down with a refreshing beer was the order of the day all courtesy of Dunfermline Carnegie H.C. through the good offices of Keith Forster who was umpiring. It was great to see Keith who is still as ebullient as usual & coaching youngsters while he awaits the go ahead from the doctors that he can return to playing and running around which he is banned from doing meantime. However as well as being a "C" badge umpire now Keith says an occasional appearance in goal is allowed and we will bear this in mind!

Result 2 - 2

Team Thistles

Alan Auld, Errol Farnan, Murdoch Young, Robbie Robertson, Sandy Weir, Chris Kalman, Ian Wilson, John Smith, Don Paterson, Alex Cathro, Pete Burns, David Margerison, Ken Moore

Team Dunfermline

George Black, Rab Keddie, Douglas Caren, Evan Lloyd & 7 other useful younger guys & boys.

Umpires

Keith Forster, sundry Thistle subs, Rab Keddie & Alex Cathro

Report by Sandy Weir