Balmoral Stadium

Cove Rangers 5-0 Edinburgh City
Megginson (31, 37)
Milne (41, 68)
Brown (87)

3rd August 2019

This was an impressive display by Cove Rangers in their debut Scottish League match, against an Edinburgh City side who had been no slouches since their own promotion to League Two a couple of seasons earlier.  

For the home side I felt both Declan Glass and Mitch Megginson were outstanding: live-wires who gave their respective opposite numbers no peace.  I also rather liked Cove full-back Blair Yule – a composed chap who barely wasted a pass.

City, who finished the match with nine men, were so abject it is hard to pick out anyone for any sort of commendation.  Scott Shepherd, who replaced Jordan Sinclair at the break, certainly put in a shift.  But his side's cause was pretty much lost by the time of his arrival.

This way to The Slaughter.

I waited for ages for the gentle breeze to full unfurl the flag, but lost interest.

The facade to the Alan McRae Stand, Balmoral Stadium, Cove Rangers.

Cove Rangers v Edinburgh City - August 2019

Club captain Mitch Megginson gets Cove Rangers' first ever Scottish Football League match underway.

Former Tranmere defender Marc Laird introduces himself to Cove's No 8 Declan Glass 

Cove Rangers v Edinburgh City - August 2019

Edinburgh City's few ventures into the Cove penalty box were invariably from set pieces.

Callum Crane clears a poor Cove corner kick.

Blair Yule - Cove Rangers

The stand holds just 370.

One is slightly reluctant to criticise any new stadium, as I am sure a lot of people have put in a lot of hard work (not to mention someone forking out a wad of cash) to get the ground built.  But....it is a rather unprepossessing sporting venue, I have to say.  There is a neat little stand, plus three small enclosures on the opposite side, which I am sure will be more than adequate for the club's needs in the short term.  It was just the place seemed so....well....funereal,     

No doubt swollen by a few Ground hoppers like me, and perhaps a wodge of curious Aberdeen fans idle given their side was not playing until the Sunday, the attendance of just under a thousand were a curiously sedate lot.  

There were five throaty roars at the goals certainly, plus a couple of howls of derision when the red cards were shown to visitors Liam Henderson and Callum Antell.  But beyond that much of the match was played out to near silence.  I say near silence, for if one was in the corner of the ground with the burger van, the racket made by the generator drowned out everything else. 

The 3G artificial pitch at Cove is covererd with tiny black granules
which I assume, are there to help the ball bounce "true".
Another result is the production of a puff of dust each time the ball hits the surface.

Panorama of Balmoral Stadium, Cove Rangers FC

Alan McRae is Honorary President of the club, and current President of the SFA
and known, not totally reverentially, as the Boris Johnson of Scottish Football.

Three what I took to be mobile phone masts towered over the ground.

Panorama of Balmoral Stadium, Cove Rangers FC

I think pretty much all of the Edinburgh City support were in this modest-sized enclosure.

"£3:50 fur a fuckin' pie", I heard one of them splutter after they returned from the refreshments hut.

Panorama of Balmoral Stadium, Cove Rangers FC

Finally - just a word of advice to anyone thinking of going along to Balmoral Stadium.

Google maps will, quite cheerfully, route you up Redmoss Road either from the north or the south.  You will reach Balmoral Stadium certainly, but will find yourself at outside one end, but with no physical access to the actual ground either by car or on foot.

Panorama of Balmoral Stadium...

...from the hill on the opposite side of Redmoss Road

Balmoral Stadium, it transpires, can only be reached through a large Industrial Estate/Retail Park, off Wellington Road.  A park where not only do all the businesses jealously guard their car parks, but where much of the road is liberally daubed with double yellow lines.  The local wardens must patrol the place with glee whenever a match is on, as the £60 fine I found stuck to my windscreen attests.