Match: Hutchison Vale v Dundonald Bluebell
Date: 06/04/2024
Venue: Ainslie Park, Edinburgh
Competition: East of Scotland Premier League (Tier 6)
Entry Fee: £8
Travel: £12.60
Miles completed today: 102
Total miles remaining: 28392
I am absolutely sick of weather warnings. It’s April, give us a break! “GAME OFF” dominated football clubs social media on Saturday morning again. Truth be told I didn’t think I’d be heading anywhere today. I’d come back from Portugal with food poisoning through the week but a very last minute reprieve left me hunting for a game on an artificial surface.
Hutchison Vale are a club who’s blueprint has been followed by many. Normally with non league clubs I’d try and highlight one or two ex players who went on to the pro game so let me use the next few lines to give Hutchie Vale the same treatment – I’m sure you’ll have heard of most.
Jason Cummings, Leigh Griffiths, Danny Wilson, Gary Caldwell, Paul Telfer, Gary Locke, Gary Naysmith, Ian Murray, Tommy Younger, John Hughes, Danny Lennon, Kenny Miller, Derek Riordan, Kevin Thomson, Grant Brebner, Darren Dods, George Farm, Mark Burchill, John Collins, Michael Stewart, Allan McGregor and incredibly – Alfred Finnbogason!
Growing up, you’d be lucky if I was able to tell you 10 Scottish clubs outside of the professional setup yet Hutchison Vale were one of the few. An incredibly famous youth side yes, so I was delighted when the club merged with Lothian Thistle and entered the senior setup.
Normally I’d do a little section on the ground and for the past few years Hutchison Vale have played out of Ainslie Park. This ground is run by The Spartans so I’ll talk about the setup whenever the time comes to visit them. I looked for anything different as to when Hutchison Vale are here but couldn’t find anything so for this blog, nothing on the ground.
Preview
Hutchison Vale are 4 places and 12 points above their Fife opponents but Dundonald do have 5 games in hand!
It’s been a fixture that neither side has been able to dominate in recent years with their last 3 meetings ending with a win each and a draw. My pre match prediction was a 5-3 home win and as you’ll soon find out, I wasn’t far off the mark.
Why do I think there’ll be so many goals? The wind. Scotland is a windy country at the best of times, but storm Kathleen is out in force. In the professional leagues, Edinburgh City’s game was abandoned 24 minutes in due to the wind and that’s only about 2 miles from Ainslie Park. I expected shots from distance, keepers and defenders misjudging bounces and the team with the wind to completely dominate each half.
The Game
When the game kicked off, I tried to get a quick pano shot of the ground. The wind made it difficult for me to keep my phone still, and I finished just in time to see Shaun Wringe tap home the opening goal I’m glad I saw it but completely missed the move that led to the goal which is why I’m not working for the BBC. One quickly became two as Joe Viola scored from close range. Bluebell keeper James Lennox made two unbelievable saves to keep the score from getting out of hand. It was fairly evident we weren’t going to see the best of either team, it was all about who could play the conditions best and Dundonald needed the half time whistle. It looked as though they’d limited the damage well until conceding a penalty right at the end of the half. Lennox went the right way but Lewi Signorini hit the penalty with enough power to nestle in the goals.
Dundonald could’ve done a lot better. They were under heavy fire, but clearing their lines high into the air caused them more problems than they solved. I felt the passing had to be shorter and sharper. Still, with the wind at their back things were sure to improve in the second half.
I noticed substitute Callum Strang take to the field for the second half. He’s featured on the blog before with a MOTM performance for Rosyth about a year ago, so it was no surprise to me when he pulled one back. His close range header was saved but tapped home the rebound and the comeback was on… or so I thought.
The best move of the game, and just about the only one which wasn’t wind assisted when Jamie Morrison dragged two defenders towards him whilst bearing down on goal only to slip the ball to Joe Viola who simply couldn’t miss and wrap up the points for Hutchie Vale.
The action didn’t end there though, as Dundonald were awarded a late penalty which Aiden Hendry stroked calmly to his left as the keeper went the opposite way.
Full time: Hutchison Vale 4-2 Dundonald Bluebell
Summary
The day probably couldn’t have went any better. I had my eye on 4 other games along with this one today – there was a grand total of 1 goal, so getting 6 is a result in itself.
Dundonald have had a decent run on the blog, this is the third time they’ve featured and they were party poopers on both occasions and Hutchison Vale were deserved winners. I didn’t learn much about either side, it was played to the conditions. The ball wouldn’t stay still at goal kicks, corners or free kicks and I’m sure the Hutchie keeper was trying to score in the first half!
The biggest credit I can give Hutchie Vale is that they matched Dundonald in the second half against the wind and that’s not how I expected the game to pan out. This win moves Vale up to third in the league. There are games in hand all over the place and they may find themselves sliding down a place or two but a top 4/5 finish in a tough league like the East of Scotland Premier isn’t bad going.
I think it’s safe to say I’ve visited the team with the best youth academy in the country over the last 25 years…
GroundhopScot 