The first league game of the season.

well my dad was eager to get to this game so he drove. I’m still knackered and can’t drive. It was a pain free journey for me, sitting down is fine for now. I have now pulled my hamstring but that’s another story.
We got to Shielfield for 1pm. We had hospitality as part of the shirt sponsor raffle that I won and I was to be presented with a complimentary home shirt. I hade a few things to drop off, cakes for Robbie Horns birthday, some lollipops to be distributed from the wee bar and a gift for Ailsa who runs the wee bar.
I said hello to a few folk, it was the first time at Shielfield this season because of my injury I never made any of the friendlies or cup games. It was a bit of an odd atmosphere after the recent issues with the board you couldn’t really expect anything else. We ventured up the stairs to the JB lounge and we had a table set out for us. We were give some drinks tokens but as my dad was driving and I’m still on pain killers we bought a couple of cans of coke and gave the tokens to Dave Spence to put them to better use.... we sat for a bit and then ventured out into the terraces. I was unsure what was happening with the shirt presentation but I’m sure something would work out (and it did). Again everything was a bit muddled due to the recent board room changes. I was presented with my shirt and my photo taken with the chairman. Then back to the stand for the game.

The match.

Well I had my £5 free bet on Berwick to win. William hill gave me 3/1 with boosted odds so that was a nice bonus. It was a bit of backs to the wall in the first half. Stirling started off pushing forward and it looked like they had scored as the ball was lobbed over Brennan and into the net. The linesman put his flag up for offside so a welcome relief. Stirling continues to press and had 2 off the post and 1 off the crossbar but Berwick held on to halftime with the game still goalless. We ventured back to the JB lounge for our halftime refreshments and then back out to the terraces for the second half.
The second half saw Berwick come out with more vigorour, I don’t know what the halftime talk was of if the players had some of the cakes I made but they were sharper and pressed Stirling. Berwick pieced together a few good moves and finally broke the deadlock in the 65th minute with a well worked move and Brown slotted home. Stirling had a couple of further chances in the second half but Berwick looked to be in control. Todd came off with what looked like a bit of a bad injury, being escorted from the pitch in a slow hobble with support from the physio and one of the coaches. Hopefully he’ll be back soon. He’s really come on and will be an integral part of the defence for this season. The game finished 1-0 and a valuable 3 points for Berwick. It’s a long way to the end of the season but you can’t ask for a better start. The next game is away to Queens Park, a difficult game and one I won’t be able to attend. The following week is against Cowdenbeath, I’ll make that one and hopefullly anothe 3 points. I know it’s early days but we need to open a gap and sadly for Cowdenbeath they are likely to be at the bottom of the table. Edinburgh City had a 4-0 win with ex Berwick striker Blair Henderson netting a hat trick. This may be the season that they come good, early days I know but a thumping of Albion who have just made the drop sends out a strong signal. I don’t know the makeup of the Albion team to be fair, how many players were retained from last season etc and I know the bottom of league 1 is not much of a leap from league 2 but 4-0 is a great result. It will be an interesting season, it always is and I’m looking forward to it.