31/10/2026
On a glorious October night we welcomed Kinross to Stark’s Park for our last league match of the campaign. Having secured the league title against the Strollers a couple of weeks ago we were keen to ensure we finished the season strongly and maintain the high standards we set ourselves over the season. Not everyone thought it was a glorious night however, as the ref turned up wearing a snood and running tights, so someone was obviously feeling the cold!
As it was the last match of the season the gaffer gave a rousing speech before kick-off although many were pleased that it wasn’t as long as his pre-match speech before the cup final earlier in the year…..his speech had the right blend of passion, motivation and humour however someone did point out it sounded as if it had come straight from ChatGPT….”write me a speech that will motivate the players through a combination of passion and humour, but with the underlying message of get stuck-in or you’ll be substituted immediately”.
With it being the last match of the season, and with the trophy being presented at the end of the match, we had a full squad of 17 players which was great to see. It was particularly great to see OG Andy Kirk in the squad for his first league appearance of the season following his Achilles injury last season and his recent hamstring injury.
The starting eleven was pretty much unchanged although Jon came in for Scotty G at left midfield.
The match started brightly with both teams playing some nice football although it wasn’t long before Krissy M and Clunie began to dominate the midfield. Thommo was also enjoying himself down the right hand side and was causing some real problems for their defence. On a couple of occasions he was played in beautifully following great work in the midfield but unfortunately couldn’t create the vital pass into the box for Gaz.
It wasn’t long however before we took the lead, and it was no surprise that Thommo was involved on the right, cutting in and passing the ball into the box for Scotty F to calmly slot the ball into the net with a composed left foot finish. It was no more than we deserved after sustained pressure on the Kinross box.
Despite huffing and puffing for the next 15 minutes or so, we couldn’t build on the first goal and we needed to careful as Kinross looked dangerous on the counter attack, although inevitably Martin and Maynie coped admirably with everything that came their way.
We kept on trying for the second goal and were very unfortunate when Thommo’s left foot volley from the edge of the box rattled off the crossbar and we were also unlucky not to get a penalty when Thommo was wiped out. Not quite sure what the referee saw, perhaps his snood was up too high and obscured his vision….
The second goal came shortly before half time, and it was man-of-match Thommo who delivered a perfect cross for Gaz to head into the back of net. Gaz could have made it 3-0 minutes later had it not been for a world class save from their keeper. Leaping like a salmon on the penalty spot he directed a header towards the top corner, however the keeper managed to claw the ball back from the goal line with a tremendous save. VAR could have determined that the ball crossed the line, however it was hard to tell on the pitch, frustratingly no-one was on hand to tap the ball into the goal from the rebound. Most probably down to the fact that everyone was awestruck by the quality of the save!
Following another rousing team talk at halftime the boys came out guns blazing and shortly after the break we secured our third goal of the evening. Collecting the ball on the right hand side, Thommo cut inside along the edge of the box before unleashing a shot into the bottom corner with his left foot. Thommo claims he coolly placed his shot in the corner whereas most other people would suggest it was more of a left-foot “squaff”.
Ten minutes into the second half we made our first series of substitutions which saw the introduction of Ped and Pocket, and it wasn’t long before Pocket made a telling contribution. Picking the ball up on the right hand side he played a perfect ball into the box for Thommo to fire the ball into the back of the net. Pocket had made an immediate and it wasn’t long before he created another great chance when he fired the ball across the six yard box for Ped, but unfortunately the keeper made a fantastic save from very close range.
Ped had another chance shortly after following some great work down the left but with the goal gaping on the right he promptly shot straight at the keeper with a vicious toe-poke.
It wasn’t long before Pocket was rewarded with a goal of his own - Clunie won a thumping header in the middle of the park which released Pocket immediately through on goal before calmly finishing into the back of the net. Pocket’s pace was causing Kinross a huge amount of problems especially as they were playing a very high line, and he was unlucky with a couple of tight offside decisions where he clearly started his run from within his own half. Perhaps the referee was basing his decisions on Pocket’s previous track record of getting caught offside all the time!
It’s fair to say there is little sympathy from the central midfielders for players who get continually caught offside…in their opinion it’s really easy to stay onside all the time and no-one should get caught offside. Would love to see some of these boys doing doggies all game up and down the wings without getting caught offside…..ha ha!
The sixth goal came after some great work on the left from Ped, who cut in from the left and played the ball out to Pocket on the right. He then drilled the ball across the box for Scotty F to smash the ball into the goal. Fair to say that the subs were making a huge impact to the scoreline! That was Scotty’s last contribution to the match as he was immediately substituted off as the management team continued to utilise the very strong bench.
This set of changes saw the introduction of Kirky for his first league appearance of the season which was greeted by cheers from the sideline. It’s been a tough 12 months for the OG so it’s brilliant to see him back again. Clearly there was a bit of nervousness in the Kirk family as Fraser’s last words as his dad took to the pitch were “don’t get injured Dad”…
Pocket scored his second, and our seventh, in the 73rd minute following a cultured clearance from Maynie. Using his speed, Pocket burst away from the defenders before rounding the keeper and slotting the ball into the empty net.
Whilst Thommo was deserving of his man-of-the-match award, Pocket’s performance during his thirty minute stint was very impressive – creating multiple opportunities, scoring a couple of goals and only being caught offside twice. Not sure what the most impressive statistic is….probably the offside one!
We wrapped up the scoring with ten minutes to go when Ped got on the end of a great ball across the box and buried the ball beyond the keeper. This followed some great build up play in the middle of the park by Kirky who dropped deep to collect the ball before spraying the ball out wide to Pocket who then crossed the ball for Ped. Another great example of the fine link-up play across the midfield.
With the match drawing to an end we unfortunately missed out on a clean sheet after a cross clipped the top of the bar before dropping to the feet of their striker who tapped into an empty net. Pretty unfortunate for the defence as they’d been solid all match. From the kick off we then seemed to adopt the rugby approach of kicking the ball into touch as far down the pitch as possible…that’s the only explanation we can give for Kirky’s decision to hammer the ball towards the corner flag. His claims that Scotty G should have been on his toes seemed a bit harsh…
The match finished shortly after and the final whistle was met with cheers from the lads as we could finally celebrate the league title.
The league secretary had made the trip to Stark’s Park to hand out the medals and trophy and we’d like to say a special thanks to Kinross colts over 35s for staying on the pitch to congratulate the boys as they lifted the trophy - touch of class, thanks guys!
Fair to say the post-match exuberance got to a few of the boys as someone suggested we should do a calendar for charity to celebrate the league title…whilst there a couple of Adonis-like bodies in the team, I think by the time it got to April and May in the calendar we might be down to the less attractive members of the team which could limit the number of sales!
It’s been a great season and thanks must go to all the players who’ve contributed to our success over the course of 2026.
Special thanks must also go to the staff at Stark’s Park who’ve been great on Friday nights, especially Andy who has always been on hand to help us out. That being said, he did suggest he would shove the corner flag “where the sun don’t shine” when we asked about the changing facilities, but apart from that he’s been brilliant – cheers Andy and have fun in Arbroath today, good luck with the 50:50 draw….
Scotty F ⚽️⚽️
Thommo ⚽️⚽️
Gaz ⚽️
Pocket ⚽️⚽️
Ped ⚽️
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