Spiders

Queens Park Reserves  3  Ayr United Reserves  2

Scottish Premier League – Reserve Division Two

I hadn’t realised until this season, just how much akin to rocking horse shit midweek football is in Scotland.

Once you get out of the light night period (end of August), the Juniors calls it a day, and midweek games in the lower divisions of the Scottish League simply don’t happen. You might get the odd League Cup tie, or indeed European tie in the case of the Gweegie Brothers, but otherwise the landscape is pretty desolate.

I had minimal choices tonight, I could go to Cyprus to watch a Ladies European Cup tie involving Rangers, or I could head in the general region of Aberdeen (which probably from a time perspective is not much different to Cyprus) and watch a County Cup tie, or, I could do something else, and as that ‘something else’ was pretty much Hobsons Choice, I decided to go with that!

The brilliant Scottish Football Fixtures website has become something of a bible to me, and when it popped up that Queens Park Reserves were playing Ayr United Reserves in the Scottish Premier League Reserve game, it seemed an obvious one to attend.

It was timely as well, because twenty four hours before the game, the Scottish FA announced that they had bought Hampden Park from Queens Park Football Club, primarily as a base for the national teams. Queens Park have always owned Hampden, but for their purposes it was more of a cash cow than an ideal home. Given the crowds they got it was wholly inappropriate as a venue, but it served a purpose.

The deal meant that Queens Park would no longer be playing games at the main Hampden Park, instead they would be moving next door to Lesser Hampden, which ironically was where tonight’s game was being played.

From base camp at Glasgow Central Station it was a mere three stops down to Mount Florida Station, so from a logistics perspective it was a piece of. The Mount Florida area of Glasgow sits just to the South of the City Centre and is a traditional residential area. The ground is no more than a five minute walk away, but with an hour to kill I made my way to the brilliant Clockwork Beer pub, which is renowned in Real Ale circles and clearly not appropriate for a lager swilling lout like myself.

Lesser Hampden is owned by Queens Park FC, and has been in use for many years. It sits behind the ‘Rangers End’ to the West of the main Hampden Park and over the past few years it’s been through a refurbishment programme.

The pitch is artificial, and from a spectator perspective it’s a one sided ground. You enter past the hugely impressive club building which houses offices, executive boxes, a gymnasium, a restaurant and a cafeteria area (and that was just the bits I could find). It also has a plethora of history and memorabilia on the walls, for this is a club with a serious history.

In front of the building is a balcony from where the game can be viewed, while to the left of this are the old dressing rooms with the sloped covered roof that covers an area in front of it. Several rows of new and uncovered seats sit in front of the dressing rooms and run along the pitch side up towards the North West corner flag. The spectator facilities are minimal, but adequate, for now…

You see, as part of the deal to sell Hampden Park, Queens Park are going to relocate the first team to Lesser Hampden, and for that to happen I suspect improvements will need to be carried out, notably more seats and more cover. Otherwise, the rest of what is likely to be required, they have in place already.

So what about the game? Well after a bright start by visiting Ayr United, it was the hosts who scored twice in relative quick succession, but then the tables turned and the visitors then also scored twice in quick succession to leave the score 2-2 at half time. It had been a cracking game and one that certainly held the attention.

The second half was nowhere near as entertaining but with not too long left on the clock, a catalogue of defensive cock-ups saw a Queens Park player win the ball virtually on the by-line and walk it into the net uncontested.

And that was it, a short walk back to the station and within fifteen minutes I was back into the centre of Glasgow. I must admit, before the game I wasn’t massively overwhelmed about watching a game between two reserve sides on what was effectively a training ground / sports complex, but given the quality of what I saw, and the fact that very soon it will be hosting Scottish League football, by the end of it I was well pleased I’d made the effort.

Up the Spiders, and long may you continue playing on Wednesday nights, I think I may need you in the months to come!