Dunfermline 1-1 (4-5 pens) Alloa Athletic, League Cup, East End Park, att. 1,723 (c.150 away)Holidays are here, holidays are here. No, it’s not Christmas and the Coca-Cola ad. It’s me being off work and able to take my beloved for a weekend in Scotland. Edinburgh’s the plan, but I am unpleasantly astounded by how much accommodation costs these days…so I hit on Dunfermline, just across the river from the capital. Arriving by train from Durham, my other half can savour the delights of Edinburgh on a Satdy afternoon while I head for Dunfermline, check in at the Wetherspoons Hotel (still £95!) and head to the match. And Dunfermline (the place) is an absolute delight!
Grand buildings, great pubs, amazing eateries….I’m coming again. If it wasn’t so far north (ie, Scotland) I’d consider living here, I really would. Plus it’s got a football team, albeit one that’s struggling in the 3rd tier these days. All a far cry from the glory years of the 1960s and European nights against the cream of Europe (and Everton). No programme today, but I pick up something ever better – a meaty history of Dunfermline in that bygone decade, for the bargain sum of five pounds. (I check whether the club shop is open after the game, to avoid carrying it throughout.) Under the management of Jock Stein and George Farm, the Pars won the Scottish cup in 1961 and 1968 and reached the semi-finals of the European Cup Winners Cup in 1968/69. How annoying then, to lose to eventual winners Slovan Bratislava. It was another world in those days.
After check-in, I head to The Old Inn on Kirkgate, where Dunfermline Athletic were founded (a blue plaque tells me so). Inside, an oldie-worldy front bar includes a few framed programmes from the Glory Years, while at the back, a modern lounge has an impressive food range and comfy couches. I sink into one with my Drygate manago pale ale, a gem of a pint, and wonder why Sky Sports are bothering to broadcast live from a friendly at Derby County. I only have the one though, thinking I’d have another on the way to the ground, but it doesn’t happen and I’m there early enough to have a wander around.
In a well signposted town, about the only thing not signposted is the most important – East End Park. However, it’s easy to find, just head east down the high street and keep walking. There may not be too much in the way of a crowd to follow, but I could see the floodlights as I approached a huge roundabout. The Main Stand backs on to the main road and tickets were available in the club shop. Do I sit behind the goal or in the main stand? ‘Which one is higher?’ ‘Depends where you sit.’ Yeah, I guess it does. The front row of one stand is always likely to be lower than the back row of another. I choose behind the goal, a precipitous stand which I regret sitting in the back row of. It’s dizzying. Last time I felt like this was in the away end at the Sports Direct Arena @St. James’s Park. I move seats at half-time to halfway down.
I’m surprised the capacity is only around 12,000. Identical stands behind each goal look huge, steep cantilevers with maroon seating. The Main Stand (to my right) is sizeable, and contains a paddock in front which is no longer used for spectating. Nowadays it contains a couple of structures for club officials to look on. A couple of poles prop up the roof, but nothing too obscuring. Opposite, a low-roofed stand full of pillars covers maybe 20 rows of seats the length of the pitch. It also contains the camera gantry, as I found as I wandered in unchallenged through an open door. I could have saved myself 15 quid! (I don’t begrudge the club the money, they need it more than me.) After taking several snaps in this stand, I journey on in my circumnavigation of the stadium. I’m pleased of the ability to do this. Behind this stand is a sizeable car park and cemetery. The latter I can see from my first half seat. It’s always nice to ponder one’s mortality during lulls in play.
Entering the Norrie McCarthy (West) Stand, the gangway puts you a third of the way up the stand already. Wheelchair users enter at this level and have platforms on either side of the stand (same opposite, the usual away end). This afternoon though, the East Stand is shut and Alloa fans are housed at the far end of the Main Stand. Understandable, as 1700 fans spread out in the 2 stands being used.
Without a programme, I’ve no concept of what’s going on in this League Cup. I know it’s a 5 team group and this is the last game, but can Dunfermline get through? Or Alloa? No idea. I look up the table on the BBC website during the game but it’s ‘as it stands’, thereby including current scores….and I really can’t be bothered to then look up fixtures, see current scores and go back to the table….by which time, no doubt, another goal would have gone in…somewhere….making the whole process pointless. But with around 10 minutes to go, I could hear the word ‘penalties’ amongst the muffled PA announcement. I asked a local. Yes, if it’s a draw, we get penalties. 3 points for a win, 2 points for a win on penalties, 1 for a loss on penalties and zero for losing outright. I’m not complaining, I love a penalty shootout.
Yes, by now it’s one-all. Dunfermline, newly relegated and no doubt fancying themselves against perennial lower leaguers, must fancy themselves. They go a goal up, a great looping header from 12 yards, and then miss several chances to put the game to bed. Second half, Alloa come back into it, led by veteran striker Connor Sammon, once of Derby and Wigan. He inevitably scores the equaliser near the hour mark and from then on, Alloa look the likeliest. I know this because one or 2 boo boys in the home end are beginning to be heard, which vexes 1 or 2 others. And so it is, for the second consecutive match, the home side are booed off. It gets worse, as the one penalty missed is Dunfermline’s. ‘Bloody rubbish, Dunfermline’ is the expert assessment. I head for the exit. I have a book to purchase and glorious it is too.
***We had dinner at the curryhouse Dhoom, ‘a 9 course taster menu from the streets of Delhi’. All I can say is that it was one of the finest meals I’ve had in a long time. Recommended.
The Damage:£15 ent
£5 book (‘Black and White Magic’)
£2.50 Scotch pie
£0.50 water
= £23
The Tunes:
Mixmag Nov 2012 (Solomon)
