On Saturday I made my first trip to Cliftonhill - despite being the owner of a season ticket (last summer they were available on a pay-what-you-can basis, a fine initiative which I though deserved to be supported.) The Rovers have found themselves in an uncharacteristically lofty position this season and were looking to get their promotion push back on track after a midweek defeat to East Fife. This was also my first game in over a month due to the abysmal weather.
Spotted on the way to the ground.
Despite being in possession of a season ticket, I duly paid a tenner to get in - a quick glance at the ground was enough to convince me that the Wee Rovers need it more than I do. The first thing I noticed on entering the ground was the massive empty terraced section on the opposite side (pics below), which I assume is now closed for safety reasons. In fact there's only one side of the ground open to fans - the main stand, which is a mixture of wooden benches, plastic seats and terracing. There's not much behind the goals except the giant old-fashioned floodlights, which spluttered into life at about half four as darkness fell.
I headed for the portakabin at the side of the main stand which houses the refreshments and club shop. I didn't even feel like getting a bovril - a sure sign that the temperature is rising. I bought a pin-badge to add to my blossoming collection though.
The hallowed turf.
Check out the old-school floodlights.
I found myself a suitable spot to watch the game among the sizeable Clyde contingent. For the first few minutes of the game the ball seemed to be permanently in the air. Not being hoofed up in the air - just being headed back-and-forth in midfield. The game settled down a bit but remained quite scrappy, not helped by the weather-beaten pitch. Clyde scored on the break after about fifteen minutes, which set the Clyde fans off with a rendition of 'Cliftonhill is falling down' (to the tune of London Bridge...) Credit must go to the group of 5 or 6 school age Albion fans who worked their way through the entire back catalogue of Albion Rovers hits during the game.
Albion had a goal disallowed before half-time, the bulky number nine adjudged to have used his bulk a little too much in the run up to the goal. Half-time arrived and I went to find the facilities. There was a queue so I decided to practice the ancient art of 'hauding it in' instead. The second half continued in similar fashion to the first until Keigan Parker (anyone remember him? The next Michael Owen? No?) beat a couple of men on the wing and crossed for an easy tap-in to make it 2-0 to Clyde. A disappointing performance and result for Albion Rovers, but despite two home defeats in a week they still have a great chance of nicking the automatic promotion spot and reaching the giddy heights of SPFL League One.
If you look really closely you can see a couple of free-loaders on the top left.
Attendance: 714
No comments:
Post a Comment