Saturday 4 January 2020
Riverside Stadium, Perth
East of Scotland Premier Division Fixture #14
Jeanfield Swifts
Starting XI | Mitchell, Reid, Kennedy, Whitehead, Dolzanski, Mackie, F Smith, McLeish, Simpson, S Smith, McLaren
Subs | Fergus, Sinclair, Gunnion, M Smith
Goalscorers | McLeish (40)
Sent off | None
Penicuik Athletic
Starting XI | Watt, Baptie (Stevenson 65), Young, Page, Connolly (c), Watson (Jones 69), Tansey, McCrory-Irving, Ponton, Stewart (Kateleza 65), Forbes
Unused subs | O'Donnell
Goalscorers | None
Sent off | None
The new decade saw Penicuik travel to the Riverside Stadium in Perth to meet Jeanfield with both sides looking to make a successful start to the new year and keep open their hopes of catching Premier leaders Bo’ness as the season progresses. With skipper Somerville on holiday, Connolly took over the armband with Tansey, Ponton and Stewart coming into the line-up and O’Donnell and Kateleza dropping to the bench from the side that closed out the year against Whitehill. The hosts were the first on the attack in the 3rd minute as F Smith fired high and wide before Tansey was thwarted by Mitchell in the Swifts goal at the second attempt. Clear cut chances were few and far between but there was controversy in the 16th minutes as Stewart went down in the Swifts box only to see referee Dickson brandish the yellow card for ‘simulation’. Five minutes it was Tansey who flicked on a pass from McCrory-Irving for Stewart in the box only to see Mitchell race off his line and save well. The hosts created the next two attempts on goal as with 24 minutes on the clock Simpson cut inside to find an angle to shoot but fires wide and ten minutes later Mackie found space on the edge of the Penicuik box but dragged his shot wide of the upright. With five minutes left of the half Page saw yellow for a foul just outside his own box and as Watt failed to hold Kennedy's free kick McLEISH won the race with Forbes to bundle the ball over the line to open the scoring.
HALFTIME | Jeanfield Swifts 1-0 Penicuik Athletic
Swifts had the early goal efforts in the second half without troubling Watt in the visitor’s goal as the home custodian Mitchell was a spectator, although the visitors dominated possession the Swifts defence were strong to clear any danger in front of Mitchell. Despite the substitutions made in attempt open up the home defence Penicuik failed to trouble Mitchell. With 12 minutes to go Kateleza went down just inside the box in a tangle with Whitehead and despite referee Dickson making no decision the assistant raised her flag after the next tackle and Dickson awarded a free kick to the home side and booked Kateleza for ‘simulation’. The last ten minutes and the added six minutes for blatant timewasting saw a flare up as the home side once again delayed the restart and Ponton received a yellow card for attempting the retrieve the ball to take an attacking free kick. Despite a flurry of corners the game petered out in the gathering gloom and the Riverside continued to be an unhappy hunting ground for Penicuik.
FULLTIME | Jeanfield Swifts 1-0 Penicuik Athletic