After a (surprisingly) few weeks with no football other than pre-season friendlies and the Women’s European Championships on the telly, it’s time to get back to league football on a Saturday.
With the WoSFL now having settled down into a stable 5 tier system, Division 4 has grown a little and I have a few new grounds to visit on my side of Scotland. I chose to begin with a visit to Huntershill Sports Hub to see new boys Rossvale Academy kick off their season by hosting BSC Glasgow.
I’ve learned not to expect much from webpages of teams at this level and Rossvale Academy are no exception in this regard. Given that there is another Rossvale FC (ex Juniors) side in WoSFL Division One and a prominent (in social media terms at least) Women and Girls Academy team in existence, it proved impossible for me to find out anything about the men’s Academy team, even when bringing Facebook and Twitter into play. Online photos of the Huntershill Sports Hub did little to build my excitement as it looked like I would be visiting an AstroTurf pitch in a leisure centre but, if I’m going to visit them all, I suppose I needed to tick it off the list.
Obviously, there’s little I can say about form either. I’ve taken no notice of pre-season for either of these two clubs and this would be the first game of the season. Although BSC Glasgow graced Division 4 last season (finishing 7th of 7), Rossvale Academy are one of six new teams in the new-look 12 team league.
My totally uninformed prediction for the game was a 2 – 1 home win.
Arriving at the Huntershill Sports Hub about twenty minutes before kick off, I was immediately confused by the signage. As I drove into the car park, I clocked a sign saying that there was no parking at peak times…I wonder what they use the CAR PARK for at such times? I ignored that sign, parked up and then wondered where I should go next. As expected, the ‘ground’ was a leisure centre with a number of outdoor pitches, two of which were showing activity. As there was a game obviously underway on the top pitch, I opted for the one closer to the leisure centre block and ignored another sign which told me that the only way in was for players and officials only.
This proved to be the right thing to do and I was relieved of my £5 entrance fee and directed to the far side of the astro turf pitch where the spectators would be housed. At that point, I was one of only seven people in that area although by kick off time, that number had swelled to an impressive nineteen.
The Match
The crowd had grown to thirty by the time Rossvale made their brighter start count in the 19th minute. A red and yellow hoop shirted player reacted first to a ball into the box, swivelled well and fired the ball into the net to give the home side the lead. Not long afterwards, Rossvale hit the post and, around the half hour mark they certainly should have doubled their lead but a free header sailed over the bar from close range.
The visitors came back a bit in the final stages of the first half, putting their hosts under a bit of pressure but Rossvale certainly deserved to go into the break in the lead. For anyone who still cares, by the time the half time whistle was blown, the crowd was up to about forty five, probably as a result of other nearby games finishing
BSC started the second half like they meant business and nearly equalised in the 50th minute when the ball found a striker on the edge of the six yards box and the close range volley cannoned back off the crossbar. As is often the case however, just when it looked like BSC might get back into the game, they were punished when, on the break, a Rossvale player rounded the keeper and doubled the lead by stroking the ball into an empty net.
BSC forced the Rossvale keeper into an important save almost straight afterwards but their task was about to get a whole lot harder. A BSC player was fouled in the middle of the pitch and the referee raced after the Rossvale perpetrator to show him a yellow card. While this was happening, I’m told (I was watching the referee so didn’t see it) that the wronged BSC player kicked out at another opponent. Much argument and shouting followed but I’d thought the ref hadn’t seen it either until I realised later that the visitors had been reduced to ten men.
Any doubt on the outcome of the game was put to rest in the 71st and 72nd minutes when Rossvale hit a quickfire brace to kill the game once and for all.
As the game played itself out, I had a brief conversation with a fellow spectator who wrongly identified my Argyle shirt for Hibernian (to be fair, it’s an easy mistake to make this season) but told me that the reason there are two Rossvale sides, and possibly explaining why I found it hard to find out anything about Rossvale Academy, was that there had recently been some sort of dispute regarding control of the Division One Rossvale FC team and name and this had resulted in the original owner/founder setting up a new team which needed a slightly different name. My understanding is that Rossvale Academy are a very new team who are now starting on their own path in Division 4.
So, the 2022/23 season starts for me, in short sleeves in the sun with four goals and an entertaining encounter. The ground is nothing to write home about but it’s another ticked off (No. 157 for the record).
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