Saturday, September 12

East of Scotland Amateur Cup, first round on the 3G pitch at Saughton Park;
Tollcross Thistle 4, Stirling Thistle 3, after extra time.

WHAT value would anyone care to put on the magnificent East of Scotland Amateur Cup first round tie between Tollcross Thistle and Stirling Thistle on the 3G pitch at Saughton Park? Football fans throughout the world are forced to pay massive sums of money to watch over-rated/grossly overpaid professionals in action, while others - such as at Saughton Park on Saturday, September 12 - are allowed to watch, free of charge, footballers who play just for the love of the game! This was amateur football at its best and this stunning all-action game went to extra time before Tollcross Thistle managed to beat their opponents from the Stirling and District AFA 4-3 - with the winner coming from the penalty spot! Wow!

It was as they say in football ’some game’! Stirling kicked off and won a free-kick on the left of the 18yd box and the resultant cross in to the Tollcross goalmouth was palmed away by goalkeeper, Gary Burgess. The play switched to the other end of the lovely 3G pitch and a corner from Tollcross No 9, Steve Bell, was punched away by the brilliant Stirling goalie, John Perrie for another corner on the left wing, this time. When the ball came over, it was Perrie, again, who cleared the danger. Both sides played excellent passing football in their build-ups and Tollcross threatened to open the scoring again when a great cross was delivered in to the Stirling goalmouth, only for Perrie to collect the cross and clear. Adam Robertson then sent a superbly weighted pass through in the inside-left channel for Bell to run on to - but busy match referee, Steve Harris, blew for offside to end that move. Then Robertson set up Lee Heinemeir to have a shot at goal, but the Tollcross No 11 was off balance when he connected with the ball and his shot sailed over the Stirling crossbar. Then the visitors had the benefit of a real stoke of luck when Heinemeir chased a ball through the middle in to the Stirling box and, when Perrie came off his line to clear, he slammed the ball in to Heinemeir and the rebound flashed wide of the right-hand post.

As play went from end to end, big Stirling No 11, Richard Kelbie, looked very impressive when he was on the ball, shielding it well and laying off passes to team-mates. In the centre of the Stirling defence, Craig Philip, proved to be a real hurdle for Tollcross, but the home side had another half-chance to score when Jamie Archibald (a very good footballer) tried his luck with an overhead shot at goal but the ball went harmlessly wide of the target. Then Heinemeir set up Archibald for another go at breaking the deadlock, but the Tollcross No 10 was off target again.

The home side then went 1-0 down and it was the first of several fantastic goals, coming from Stirling’s Mark Kelbie who scored in to the top left-hand corner of the net after being set up by Archer in the 31st minute. That was a stunning opener from Stirling and, possibly, against the run of play, not that anyone in the visiting contingent was concerned. Tollcross attacked again and Bell looked set to score the equaliser from a superb pass from Archibald, but Perrie came off his line to brilliantly block the net-bound shot. The Stirling side, buoyed by Kelbie’s brilliant goal, were really up for the game and match referee, Steve Harris, had a really tough job getting up and down the pitch to keep up with play. Tollcross contined their attacks on the visiting goal, but all they had to show for their efforts were several corners and the Stirling defence were certainly not in the mood to give anything away. Heinemeir and Archibald again combined to set up a good chance, but all they got was another corner that was cleared. In another brilliant move by the home side, Heinemeir was set free on the left but the Stirling defence survived again to give away a thro

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This is the post I tried to put on the referees forum, got an e-mail back from camyref saying if it went on id probably end up infront of a commitee. He did say he understood my frustration and suggested we submitted a report.

Firstly I would like to point out that I appreciate that without refs there would be no game, that they do an incredibly tough job and pretty much cant win as both teams see the game through tinted glasses and I always thank the ref after the game, win lose or draw. Despite saying this I fear my post wont be taken seriously as the refs union tends to be as blinkered as the teams sidelines.

I play for Tollcross and on Saturday our 100% record ended with a 1 all draw in our tenth game. I have lost many games, infact my under21 team hardly won a game last season but I have never felt so cheated in all my life. Firstly an incident occured in the 1st half when instead of awarding a corner to barca, the ref awarded a throw in (should have been a bye kick anyway) the barca sidelines had a right go at the ref. Then shortly after the ref awarded barca a penalty despite nothing happening and no appeals what so ever from the barca players. This was thankfully saved. almost every time we went forward our striker was blown offside, despite on occasions never actually passing the last defender. This contrasted with no offsides (i was counting) for barca despite on occasion being clearly 5 yards off and suprised to not be given offside. We eventualy scored from a corner (he couldnt give that offside) and ended the half played uphill into the wind 1 nil up.

As we had the wind behind us and were downhill in the second half, we started all over them. Somehow after 15 mins of pressure the score remained 1 nil and barca hadnt managed an attack. Our Striker was tripped off the ball right infront of the ref but he decided to completely ignore this. Insensed he went to the ref questioning why he had not taken action ('why the f wasnt that a free kick? are you blind?). The ref after all game not speaking to the players and ignoring all back chat from both teams decided this merited a straight red for our top goal scorer. Ten minutes later with Barca still not managing a shot, they were given a corner even no it was blatently a goal kick, again no appeals for a corner were made. Our best centre back shouted, and i quote, 'for f sake ref'. Again the ref felt this merited a straight red card. So now down to 9 men we weathered the storm until with 5 mins to go they scored a goal (looking possibly offside but I had a bad view). With 9 men we fought back for an equaliser. a corner came in to our centre back at the back post, yards out open goal he was rugby tackled to the ground, penalty? have a guess.

So the game end one all and we drop points in the battle for promotion. But the damage doesnt end there. In every game I have played, players giv the ref stick, if it oversteps the mark a warning then a yellow is the course of action taken. It can be argued that verbally abusing the referee is a red card offence but I wonder how many players have been sent off for similar offenses for our promotion challengers Lochend and Whitson Star. I'll guess zero as they both wouldnt of finished a game this season if so. The worse part is our two most important players are facing 4 match bans with 8 league games to go. This is quite simply unjust.

Now I dont like to suggest the ref threw the game but I have never in my football career seen such a performance, maybe if I took in a Juventus match i might. After most games teams have reason to moan but I swear on my little brothers' lives to show how strongly i feel that this is different.

Maybe he is just too old and it is unfair on us to have to pay for someone who is so grossly incompetent. My Sunday morning game was refereed by a 16 year old who I would have had on Saturday instead in an instant.

Maybe he felt intimidated by the Barca sidelines