Cove Rangers 1-1 Montrose

Cove Rangers 1-1 Montrose
Scottish League One
Saturday 11th September 2021

A five o'clock in the morning wake up call followed by a seven-hour train journey to watch a football game in Scottish League One which I've zero interest in...

It might sound mental (even by my standards) but when LNER recently announced a special offer on cheap rail tickets for September and October then I was only too grateful to take advantage of their generosity - especially when it worked out at only £15 to get from Doncaster to Aberdeen.

The opportunity, of course, tied in with a chance to tick off a visit to another stadium and following this visit I'm now only needing fellow SPFL newcomers Kelty Hearts before I can lay claim to being sad enough to have visited every professional ground in Scotland.

Everything about the journey was going smoothly until, as is often the case whenever I'm up in this part of the world, the heavens decided to open when passing through Stonehaven - which is just one stop away from Aberdeen. The miserable weather did make for a miserable mood as the Balmoral Stadium is a strange ground located on an industrial estate on the outskirts of the city (and a massive trek from the railway station).

The game was never in doubt of being postponed thanks to its 4G playing surface but as a consequence of a downpour which lasted for over an hour, there was a muddy pitchside puddle adjacent to the Main Stand that resembled more of a swimming pool.

The Main Stand is the most striking aspect of the stadium - being similar (albeit slightly smaller in size) to the one found at their opponents, Montrose, and capable of housing around 400 people. The rest of the facilities are quite sparse with a temporary seated stand and two temporary terraces located on the opposite side whilst everywhere else being open to the elements.

It meets Cove's needs for now (and it's a damn sight better than new-build stadiums such as Dumbarton or East Fife!) but when the club realise their ambitions and land a place in the Scottish Championship - an inevitability at some point in my eyes, they'll certainly need to upgrade things even more. A bit of tarmac in hard standing areas definitely wouldn't go amiss!

On the pitch, the 'wee Rangers' have assembled a decent playing squad. Mitch Megginson has achieved plenty of notoriety for his goalscoring exploits over the past few years whilst Fraser Fyvie boasts experience at a far higher level and Rory McAllister is renowned throughout the lower divisions.

It's no surprise that they're expected to do well although in this game they were more than matched by a Montrose team who've also come a long way since the dark and desperate times of the mid-2010s when they nearly went out of the SPFL altogether.

After a goalless first 45 minutes where there was plenty of endeavour on show and the 'Mighty Mo' had the ball in the net only for it to be disallowed due to a linesman's flag, the hosts broke the deadlock just after half-time when McAllister hammered home a lightning-fast shot, via the underside of the crossbar, that simply had too much power and accuracy for Montrose 'keeper Allan Fleming to contend with.

A less-spirited side might have sunk (and not just in the puddle) at the task that faced them but the visitors are a vastly different proposition nowadays to anything else which they've been in the past 10-15 years. Having got into plenty of good positions where they were unlucky a few times, they reaped the rewards for their endeavours when Blair Lyons was judged to have been fouled just inside the area - thus allowing Graham Webster the chance to convert from the resulting spot-kick.

He did so and, coupled with Blair Yule's stupidly harsh dismissal for Cove with around 15 minutes to go which was never a sending off in a million years, it allowed Montrose to get on the front foot and press forward in search of a late winner.

A free-kick awarded right on the edge of the box in the fourth-minute of injury-time presented them with a perfect opportunity to have a shot but instead, a tippy-tappy routine and sideways passing saw them lose possession and find themselves under pressure from a counter-attack which culminated with Megginson skewing an effort wide with literally the last kick of the game.

A point apiece was a fair outcome and although there were some late tackles and cynical bits of gamesmanship performed by both teams - as is often the case for this level, the red card incident has to be up there as one of the worst decisions that I've seen anywhere!