The Rosey Posey

Bonnyrigg Rose  2  Annan Athletic  0

Scottish Football League – Second Division

Admission / Programme – £12 / None

“I need to ask a massive favour” said the boss.

“I need you up in Scotland, some time in the next two weeks, when can you do it?” he went on.

Now, you can’t just make snap decisions like that, because if I’m spending a combined 13 hours on trains heading North of the border, I’m making sure I’ve got some football to go with it.

“Yeah, I can do that, let me just check the fixtu….sorry, my diary.”

Anyway, it was sorted, travel on a Tuesday, stay overnight, do what I’ve got to do on the Wednesday and then make my way home again, happy days!

Football wise I had a choice of three, Dundee United were ay home to Hibs and that could have been done on the train from Edinburgh, but getting back was a bit tight. Kelty Hearts v Queen of the South was tempting but given it’s not that far from either Edinburgh or Glasgow, it’s a bit of a pain to get back from, but the one that ticked the boxes was Bonnyrigg Rose v Annan Athletic, an easy Number 31 bus route away from Edinburgh city centre.

My mate Steve had been to Bonnyrigg right at the start of the season. Steve has been to all of the Scottish Football League grounds, but as anyone who knows about Scottish football will tell you, Bonnyrigg won the Lowland League last season and then beat Cowdenbeath in a play off to make it to the promised land. As a result all of the Scottish completeists have been making pilgrimages to New Dundas Park this season to get it ticked off, so I had the good fortune of having had a briefing from Steve before heading off.

It was all very simple to be fair, I got the train to Edinburgh which wasn't too crowded and ran on time, had some snap at a suitably located Spoons, checked into a little venue down the Leith Road and then made my way back up over Royal Mile to the bus stop. The 31 bus runs into Bonnyrigg, which is great, apart from the fact it stops about every 200 yards on the way, which at tea-time is great fun, eight miles felt like eight days! Anyway, the crowds thinned out, we went under the Edinburgh Ring Road and before you know it we’ve climbed the hill and we’re in Bonnyrigg, or Boomtown as it’s known locally. I did try and find out why that was, but so far no luck, and before anyone says anything, the Boomtown Rats are from Dublin......

Now then, ordinarily I do a fair bit of research before going to games, especially games at higher levels, usually to check on the situation around tickets, pubs, food etc, but as far as Bonnyrigg went, I’d relied on Steve. The day Steve went, he was running a bit late, consequently he never had chance to check out the pubs, but not to worry, I’d seen a pub called the Calderwood right outside the ground, that looked ideal in every sense……..

It was only after a very swift pint and I’d left the venue that I did a bit of research, that research pretty much told me that under no circumstances should I go in the Calderwood, and in hindsight I could see why. Put it this way, I’d been to the bar once, and I had no intentions of going back again!

The Anvil further up the road was a much better venue, I got chatting to a couple of older lads, of course they wanted to know who I was, where I was from and why I was in town, then of course the conversation naturally leads to Brian Clough as it always does when you mention the name Derby to anyone over 60 years old! They weren’t going to the game by the way, one was a Hibs fan and the other Celtic, welcome to a small town in Scotland…..

Bonnyrigg is a small town, South of Edinburgh and home to around 16,000 inhabitants. Having been a former mining town, it was also famous for carpet making but that factory closed in 1994. Recently it’s seen an expansion of housing and is now something of a commuter location for the big city just up the road.

The football club of course is on the up. Confusingly also known as Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic (they know how to confuse you in Bonnyrigg), they were a strong force in the Eastern Juniors, winning the title a record four times before deciding to become members of the East of Scotland Football League along with many others who felt the desire to form part of the Scottish pyramid. In 2019 they won promotion to the Lowland League which they went on to win last season, and here we are now, the ‘Rosey Posey’ as they are nicknamed, have reached the promised land.

Eyebrows were raised it has to be said when the club were allowed to use New Dundas Park to host games in the new World. I know an awful lot of work has been done over the close season to meet standards, which is a huge credit to the club, but I suspect more work is required.

You enter in one corner and on the side directly in front of you are two areas of covered terracing before you reach what looks like some new office buildings and the changing rooms. In front of these buildings is a small area of uncovered seating which looks to be a very recent addition. Moving around you’ve got a small area of open terracing behind the far goal, but then on the other side of the ground opposite the terracing it’s just grass banking, albeit at one end crush barriers are dotted around. The end where you enter has a small area of cover in one corner immediately to the right, while the pitch has a slight side to side slope on it.

It’s very much a traditional juniors set up that has been modernised for the professional game, but, it has a charm and an atmosphere, and with almost 600 supporters in the ground for the game, it’s a great place to watch football under the floodlights. Talking of crowds, 2400 turned up for the opening cup tie against Hibs, 1100 were at the opening league game against Forfar (including Steve), the next two home games were around the same level but the game prior to the Annan game saw 730 through the stiles. They had a good start on the pitch but have slipped a bit in recent weeks, so a good result against the team from the border was essential.

They played well, no doubt about it. George Hunter scored with a lovely header in the 24^th minute, and that was how it remained until half time. It was twenty minutes into the second half before the hosts got a deserved second when Kieran Mitchell went one on one with the visitors goalkeeper and neatly finished. They had more chances to score as the game wore on but Annan managed to keep them at bay.

So a happy crowd left New Dundas Park, safe in the knowledge that three points had been earned and they sat safely in a mid-table position, albeit very early days. I’m not sure what the ambition of the club is, but I guess going too far too quickly is risky so maybe they are just looking to stabilise at this stage in their new surroundings.

I was joined on the bus back by a group of German football enthusiasts who had been to the game, it’s not the first time I’ve seen this in Scotland to be fair, I suspect they didn’t make the same mistake as me and go in the Calderwood!

Edinburgh was buzzing as I got back, but it was straight to the room for me, after all, let’s get our priorities in order, I was only up there on business wasn’t I……………