Groundhop Day - Saturday 22nd February 2020 STORM ELLEN STRIKES!!!

Blackburn United 0 Vs 2 Sauchie Juniors (ABANDONED DUE TO SNOW)

Groundhop Day - Saturday 22nd February 2020 - KO 14:30
Competition - East of Scotland Football League
Stadium - Purdie Worldwide Community Stadium
Address -  Ash Grove, Blackburn, West Lothian, EH47 7LL
Home Team - Blackburn United
Nicknames - The Burnie
Founded - 1978
Capacity - 2,400
Attendance - ?
Record Attendance -

Well what a day, originally I was headed to Edinburgh City V Brechin at Ainslie park, so boarded the bus to the station aaaaanddd.... Scotrail trains all even LATER than usual or cancelled due to storm Ellen (Flooded Tracks).

Soooo it was back on the bus to another match, which was guaranteed to be on!

Checked on twitter and it was definetley a go, which was a huge relief as I had already had to cancel trips to two games this week due to family commitments.

Airdrie Vs Clyde
And
Lothian Thistle HV Vs Easterhouses Lilly MW
:-(

Anyways, I was back on the bus heading to the team who were #savingmysaturday.

 

I had already visited this team on the 1st of February when they defeated Penicuik Thistle 1-0

 

On my return the approach looked a little different as the local council is knocking down the old community centre.

But here I was, all looked good for a Saturday game of football...not in Scotland and NOT in Blackburn I would find out lol.

 This was what we got at the last game, my camera doesn't quite pick up how epic it looked, by the end it was a quadruple Rainbow.

 The derelect building almost gone in Background, it really does open up the space around the stadium, no longer down the back of an old building.

Anyway, Kick off was upon us, nothing could go wrong now. Sauchie definetely looked the more threatening during the half, more controlled on the ball as Blackburn fired alot of lost balls up the park.

Although Blackburn did create a couple of chances, it was Sauchie who looked like they would score and they did with Craig Donaldson tucking it away from 6 yards on 28 minutes. Although Sauchie started the game just two places above Blackburn at the bottom end of the table who were 14th, they looked the much better team on the day.

And then the heavens opened and the Blackburn ecosystem took over, multiple rainbows one time Snow blizzard the next, I was certain I entered through a turnstile and not a wardrobe but anything goes here it seems.

Made it to half time still 1-0 to Sauchie, with most people calling for the game to be abandoned due to concerns over player safety. The the referee and his assistants seen this diferently and felt the game could go on, with the condition being that if it started snowing again the game would be abandoned. It did go on, then almost immediately started snowing, with no decision by the referee.

Another Sauchie goal scored by Mark Finlayson on 52 minutes was followed by more calls from the crowd to call the game. The referee then on different occassions consulted the captains and decided a check in 5 minutes, then the touchline, then again the captains, before finally his assistants and THEN called the game off at 63 minutes into the game.

A picture of fans leaving upon the news of the game being abandoned.

A look back

Game started well, Sauchie definetely much more composed looking on the ball with nice pieces of play, the big number 9 looked super comfortable on the ball, looking like a big alfe inge Haaland in the first half.

Blackburn hit alot of long balls, were second to most of the plays and although they did settle a few times and looked good on the ball, the shape and control was off. Their big goalkeeper Craig Saunders was particularly vocal in the first half in trying to orcchestrate changes, a real leader in the team.

Second half was barely playable, but alot of respect to all the players for just getting on with it. Hope to see more good things from both teams in the future, a trip to Sauchie is definetely on the cards.

 

A huge shout out to Blackburn United for always providing a match day programme. It really is a great thing to have for all games if possible, NO excuse for the SPL teams not to produce a printed version.

Everyone in the area should go check out a game and support your local team, they are doing great things, always a friendly atmosphere, always great entertainment and at a really good price.