Albion Rovers V Ayr United – Premier Sports Cup Group E (10/07/2021)
A 45 minute train journey to Coatbridge today (28 of that waiting at Greenfaulds) for me as I tick off another new ground today for Albion Rovers V Ayr United. Safe to say Greenfaulds station is in the middle of nowhere, nothing anywhere near the place, so made do with reading When Saturday Comes to kill the time.
Off the train at Coatbridge Central and thankfully there was plenty of shops on the way to the ground, stopped off for two sausage rolls at Greggs to fill the gut.
Arrived at Cliftonhill Stadium and I was happy when I saw it was a proper old football ground, a wooden stand with seats at the rear and standing at the front. This right here is why I love groundhopping!!
A pair of familiar faces were involved today, ex Hearts man Ryan Stevenson on the bench for Albion Rovers and ex Shrewsbury goalkeeper coach and man I had star pleasure of spending an evening with chatting all thing Salop and football, Dave Timmins who is a part of David Hopkins’ coaching staff at Ayr United. So happy to be back amongst the 150 fans for some competitive football.
Prematch I noticed the 6 yard box wasn’t flat as it looked pretty bumpy from where I was sat. 9 Ayr hit the bar after 10mins. First half was all Ayr as they created the better of the chances but credit to Rovers as they took the game to their Championship opponents for the last 10 minutes of the half.
Second half started with a battle in the isle of the park but to be fair to them Albion Rovers has the upper hand but just lacked that final ball. Ayr had a great chance with 10 left but the Rovers keeper kept it level with a superb save. Neither team could find a breakthrough in the 90 minutes so it went straight to penalties to find a winner, not the result I was expecting today. Even more of a surprise in the shootout as the Rovers keeper made a pair of saves as they won 4-2 on penalties.
Special mention for the facilities at Cliftonhill Stadium as they had better toilets than some higher league clubs and they had a little cafe in the ground that kept the air smelling of bovril and pies. Hats off to the fans behind the goal with flags, banners and a drum.
So onto my ratings…
Ticket Price – £12
Programme – N/A (team sheet only)
Programme Rating – N/A
Refreshments – N/A
Stadium Facilities – 9/10
Getting to stadium – 8/10
Stadium rating – 7/10
Thanks for reading my thoughts on Albion Rovers against Ayr United.
Daz Carding
Football Days With A Salopian Jambo 