Neilston F.C. (a day at the football)

As a bit of a thankyou to our local football team Neilston F. C. for giving us a home earlier in the year and to help support our local sports, 16 of us went on a hospitality outing to watch "The Farmer's Boys" play against Thorn Athletic at Brig O'Lea Park.

We were technically sponsoring the match so were provided with pre-match access and refreshments in their hospitality suite, which was actually the club committee room and our one-time base of operations so we were on familiar ground. The team captain Ciarán Friel joined us for that and gave us some insights on the team and the level of club football in their current league.

As you can see from the photos, it was a very nice day...if anything...too nice as the sun was very low and we were all shielding our eyes to see the action. I suppose we could have moved to the other side of the pitch but that was too far away from the hospitality and being in the sun was at least warmer.

As for the match, it was definitely a game of two halves.

Neilston had a goal very quickly but that was disallowed as offside (see if you understand it) and then Thorn got two goals in the first 15 minutes or so. So, the locals were a bit disheartened as it went into the half-time break looking like they were facing a defeat.

Of course, we were on a jolly so we got hot pies, tea/coffee/Bovril/pop, etc. and, once refreshed, we were back out cheering on the local team while I wandered around the pitch trying to get some "spot-the-ball" photos.

The second half got off to a more entertaining footing and it wasn't too long before the home team scored, obviously benefiting from some half-time set-play strategy planning. Thorn put up a good defence and had a few more chances at goal themselves but we had to wait until stoppage time and a bit of nail-biter at the end to see two more goals following set pieces from Neilston and a last-minute, 3-2 win for the local boys.

All-in-all it was an entertaining day out, the weather was fine and the local team won. We really couldn't have asked for more.

I'm not sure about the others in the group but haven't been to a football match in over 50 years. My dad took me to see Scotland vs Austria at Hampden Park sometime back in the 1960s. I never caught the football bug though, which was a big disappointment to him as he once played for Fife-Keith F.C. just before WWII.

If you want to learn more about Neilston F.C., then have a look at their web site as it has everything from their history, programmes, photos, to fixtures and results:

https://neilstonfc.beezer.com/