Scottish football is full of poetic club names and Ormiston Primrose is up there among my favourites. The village of Ormiston is close to Tranent just east of Edinburgh and the club has only recently readopted its original name after a few years as the amalgamated Pencaitland & Ormiston and then simply Ormiston FC. They have spent most of their existence in the lower leagues but their greatest achievement was reaching the Scottish Junior cup final in 1989, losing only 0-1 to Cumnock Juniors in front of 8,500 fans at Rugby Park, Kilmarnock.
Their opponents today, Craigroyston, were founded in 1976 and play in Warriston on the north side of Edinburgh. They won the East of Scotland League first division a couple of times plus two regional cup wins but no honours in the past ten years or so.
Today's match had a lot at stake with both teams battling to avoid relegation and three points here would be a massive boost to survival hopes. Ormiston looked doomed a few weeks ago but have picked up a couple of big wins recently to raise hopes.
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| Kick-off with Ormiston in black and white and Craigroyston in yellow and blue |
The ground
New Recreation Park was built in 2018 replacing the old ground on an adjacent site. The setting is very rural and pleasant, surrounded by trees and with cows grazing peacefully in the next door field. There is a wooden perimeter fence and a grassy bank on one side where most fans gather. A bity like back home in Sweden where you can sit on the grass and enjoy a match in the sunshine. There is a modern pavillion with changing rooms and a portacabin kiosk at one end but no other structures apart from the dugouts. However it's a tidy and well-maintained ground and even if this is the end of a long season the grass was superb, a credit to the groundsman. The kiosk was basic but cheery and a decent selection for this level was available - steak pies, sausage rolls etc.
Unfortunately there were no programmes or team sheets and no tannoy announcements to tell us who had scored. I have found the Ormiston line-up on the club's website but can't find any details about Craigroyston so I can only give shirt numbers in my match description below.
The match
Ormiston Primrose 3 Craigroyston 2
Crowd count: 90
This was a crunch match and it showed with regular yellow cards on display and plenty of emotional language on the field and from the benches. Both teams needed a win so they went at it from the start. There were chances at both ends but in the 20th minute Ormiston took the lead with a lovely solo effort by the lively winger Ben Tracey who beat a couple of tackles on the left of the box and shot home. Six minutes later Guy Kerr took a free kick on the edge of the box that took a deflection and went in. Ormiston looked dominant but the guests responded well and about five minutes later they won a free kick on the edge of the box. Up stepped their number 10, possibly their best player today, who curled a lovely free kick into the goal. So at the break the home side had a slender 2-1 lead with the guests looking fully capable of equalising.
The guests had a few clear chances early in the second half but then after 64 minutes Ormiston increased their lead. A low cross from Maxwell on the right of the box found Sean Ballard in front of goal but he mistimed his shot and the ball skewed across to the far post where Josh Winnik was on hand to tap it in from point-blank range. After that the guests piled on the pressure and pulled one back after 72 minutes when their number 10 found space on the edge of the box and slotted home his second of the day. After that the pressure mounted as Craigroyston surged forward and Ormiston defended sometimes stoutly sometimes desperately. They had a scare when a cracking drive from the left side of the box by the guest's number 14 crashed off the underside of the bar and bounced out. At the end there was a corner with the entire Craigroyston team up in and around the penalty area but Ormiston held out for a vital three points.
Ormiston now have a two point lead over Craigroyston with one game left to play. I will follow the results with interest.
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