SPFL Tier 4, Meadowbank Stadium, 2/5/26.

Oh dear. What a way to end the season. We simply weren’t at the races.

Mind you that’s the way it’s been for much of the past ten months.

We made Edinburgh City – bottom of the table and who hadn’t even scored a goal for two months – look like Real Madrid.

If you were charitable you could say it was an illustration of the reason for the change to ten-team divisions in 1994. Before that there were many so-called ‘end of season’ games (ie dead rubbers) where neither side had much to play for towards the end of the season.

But I’m not in the mood to be charitable.

We were just awful. They waltzed through us at will. And Brett Long in goal, while he made a few saves, didn’t cover himself in glory for two of the goals.

Mind you, the ref killed the game when he showed Kai Kirkpatrick a straight red for a late challenge at 1-0.  There was no malice in it, and no force.* Any chance we might have had vanished at that point; especially when they scored their second a minute or so later. That’s two reds for Kai in successive games he’s played in. Maybe he’s got himself a reputation. Or maybe the ref just wanted to show himself off.

City have won ten games all season. Four of them were against us. That’s 40% of their wins. (To put it in perspective, we only won ten as well but we didn’t beat anyone four times.)

I’m not overly encouraged that manager Frank McKeown is the right man for the job. It was noticeable that most of the exhortation coming from our bench area (curiously audible in a way such shouts aren’t at the Rock) was tantamount to abuse. And he made some very odd substitutions yesterday; not for the first time.

He now needs to make good signings who are considerable upgrades on most of what we had here – and improve his tactical nous.

But I fear it could be another long, hard season.

*Edited to add: I’ve now seen City’s highlight footage and Kirkpatrick’s foot was high: higher than I remembered seeing it in real time. The red card was fair enough.

SPFL Tier 4, The Rock, 11/4/26.

We knew a win would keep us safe in the division for next year. So job done. Well done, lads.

Not that it mattered as Edinburgh City lost again which would also have confirmed us as safe.

We weren’t at all convincing defensively though. Depite us having most possession they had two great opportunities to score early on, both from Josh Todd losing the ball in midfield. He’s been good since he rejoined us but was off the boil today. One of those required a very good save from Aidan Rice to keep us level at 0-0. Mark Durnan was also prone to mistakes today and was let off by wayward shooting from Stirling.

We began pressing well later in the first half and had a load of corners which we didn’t make the most of, one led to a stramash similar to that after Stirling’s first corner but neither resulted in goals.

A great Leighton McIntosh pass led to Scott Tomlinson (who had been tearing them apart down the right flank) beating his man, this time on the left wing, cutting in and getting his shot past the keeper from an acute angle.

It was strange, then, that Tommo was substituted at half time with Jack Duncan coming on.

The referee by the way was woeful. Stirling centre forward Russell McLean spent most of the game diving and complaining about non-existent fouls which were nevertheless given.

They equalised on 54 minutes when we appeared to stop defending. They more or less walked through our right hand side. I was never confident in our defending all game to be fair.

Smudger (Alexander Smith) had another great game. His ball control and work rate are phenomenal. When we finally got a free kick of our own – mysteriously given as indirect when their player had just about halved Kristian Webster – Smudger’s shot from the ball tapped to him was spiled by the keeper and Scott Honeyman got to the rebound first to dispatch it.

A slightly nervy ten or so minutes plus added time followed, punctuated by late sub Kai Kirkpatrick being sent off near the end. I didn’t see what happened but it seems he landed a punch on Russell McLean.

Still three games to go but we can now look forward to next season.

SPFL Tier 4, The Rock, 28/3/26.

In the first half this was just like earlier in the season. We were awful.

Plus we were totally unable to cope with the wind being against us. We were also utterly disorganised at the back. That can be attributed to Ali Omar being away on international duty with Somalia and general lack of familiarity with playing in a back three. Alexander Smith was missed in midfield too – he was away with Scotland’s Under 17s.

The officials were woeful. The stand side linesman’s first contribution was to flag for a Forfar offside from a throw-in. Do they not even know the rules these days. The ref had to give a dropped ball when they finally twigged. Yet again we had a ref continually being conned by our opposition’s players making a meal of any challenges.

Their first goal was a penalty given when the ball hit Mark Durnan’s arm – which to my mind was in a natural position.* Their second was the result of a poor defensive mix-up.

The second half was a different proposition. Jack Duncan had come up front on for Kai Kirkpatrick in midfield. (Kai was apparently showing signs of concussion at half-time.) The switch meant a change in shape but what the new one was  – apart from Kristian Webster being pushed into midfield – was difficult to discern. However we were certainly more comfortable with the wind than against it.

After a few missed opportunities we finally got on the score sheet when Leighton McIntosh surged onto a through ball with the Forfar defence waitng for an offside against someone else. Leighton squeezed the ball past the keeper but it felt like it took an age to cross the line.

Our tails were up now though and after good work by Jack Duncan the ball was channelled to Adam Livingstone whose cross/shot was diverted into the net by Scott Honeyman.

What had looked to be a deflating afternoon turned out to be not much damage done.

We’re now ten points ahead of Edinburgh City with only fifteen left up for grabs.

But no chickens are being counted at Son of the Rock Acres.

*Having seen the highlights his arm may have been a bit extended but the ball was played from very close to him.

SPFL Tier 4, K Park Community Stadium, 20/9/25.

A game of two halves.

But first, the K Park Community Stadium is a seriously awful place to watch a football match if you’re an away fan. We were confined to one end of the pitch in a small enclosure which had at most three steps up from pitch level and there was a net strung along the back of the pitch – presumably to prevent injury to spectators. Not an ideal view by any means.

Sons were awful in the first half. The home team seemed to have loads of room to play, with two wide men on their left getting two on one with Kristian Webster at right back far too often and also able to get down their right too easily.

Still, they didn’t force Shay Kelly into any kind of serious save. Then, on the stroke of half time they were given a penalty. This was up the other end from us Sons fans so whether it was justified or not I couldn’t say. Shay Kelly nearly got down to it but it had been struck too firmly.

The second half started much as the first had progressed then suddenly we came into it. This may have been because we had showed more urgency but seemed to coincide with Scott Tomlinson and Kai Kirkpatrick switching wings. Tomlinson began to interpret this as a licence to roam and was soon popping up all over the place in the attacking third. He missed a glorious chance to score, though by not hitting his shot early enough, then Kirkpatrick set up Dom Docherty beautifully but he opted for power rather than placement and blazed it over.

Then a fine move saw Tomlinson moving down the inside right channel before his shot beat the keeper.

It was nip and tuck from then on but East Kilbride ought to have scored at the death but somehow their attacker with only a touch required to put it in the net somehow managed to hit the ball backwards.

It was a much relieved set of Sons fans who greeted the final whistle as for all of the first half  a draw had seemed utterly unlikely.