Irvine Meadow 1-0 Benburb

Irvine Meadow 1-0 Benburb

West Of Scotland League

Wednesday 23rd February 2022

It’s long since been an ambition to go and watch an Irvine Meadow home game and having recently completed a visit to all 42 SPFL stadiums, this seemed like the perfect time to get it done!

I could have picked a better night, however, as swirling winds made temperatures bitingly baltic (even by my standards) and a few games elsewhere were postponed altogether due to waterlogged pitches!

Irvine Meadow could easily be considered as one of the bigger clubs in the old ‘junior’ ranks and nowadays they compete in the newly-created West Of Scotland League which stands at Step 6 on the Scottish Pyramid (one division below the Lowland League).

Times have changed for Irvine since the first time I watched them; away at Hibernian in that Scottish Cup Fourth Round tie in January 2010, but Meadow Park is one of those classic grounds that doesn’t appear to have changed an awful lot for a number of years. Complete with a Main Stand which includes windshields, wooden bench seating and supporting pillars that block the view of the pitch, the ground has similarities to both Kings Lynn Town and Frickley Athletic in England and oozes character.

It’s certainly one of the best in the West Of Scotland (Premier Division) - and having won this game against mid-table Benburb thanks to a looping header by Mick Wardrope just after half-time, Irvine will consequentially be confident of competing at the same level again next season.

In truth, there wasn’t a massive deal of difference between the two teams; Irvine shading things but the swirling winds played havoc at times!

The opening 45 minutes was as tepid as it was scrappy - a long-throw from Benburb deep into Irvine’s penalty box brought about a goalmouth scramble, whilst the hosts’ frontmen were guilty of straying too far forward as the linesman’s offside flag prematurely put paid to some openings. Both ‘keepers made a routine save apiece and otherwise, it was just very windy and bitingly cold.

Things after half-time went a long way to warming the appetite, nevertheless, and Irvine’s young ‘ultras’ who’d turned out in the freezing conditions when they could have easily stayed at home and watched the Champions League on TV (fair play to them!) were banging their drum and letting off flares with pure joy after what proved to be the only goal of the night on 52 minutes.

Wardrope, who was comfortably the best player on the pitch, was in the right place at the right time as he latched onto a cross and directed his looping header over the Benburb ‘keeper to make it 1-0.

Thereafter, a second goal for Irvine seemed a lot more likely than an equaliser for Benburb, and the hosts were desperately unlucky not to double their lead when a back-post header from a corner hit the crossbar and Connor Boyd’s follow-up header was miraculously kept out by a full-stretch ‘keeper who then saved a third effort after the ball was only partially cleared to the edge of the area.

The visiting shot-stopper also saved well in a one-on-one scenario during the closing stages and despite Benburb launching balls forward in desperation in the dying minutes, the closest they actually came was with an angled shot that was routinely kept out by Marc Waters.

The clean-sheet will give Irvine confidence ahead of this weekend’s grudge encounter against Ayrshire rivals Auchinleck Talbot who were surprisingly held to a goalless draw in their game against Kilbirnie Ladeside.