Easter Road: November 2015

Wednesday, 4 November 2015

Hibernian 2-1 Rangers

Aerial shot of Easter Road (www.footballtripper.com)

Programme - £2.00

Ratings

Overall Ground Quality : 8/10

Ease of getting there : 9/10

Atmosphere : 8/10

Programme : 6/10

View of Action : 9/10

Quality of the game : 8/10

The "football" feeling : 8/10

Chances of coming here for a random game : 1/10

Legroom : 6/10

Surrounding area : 7/10

Overall : 70/100

Famous Five Stand

East Stand

Famous Five Stand

West Stand

South Stand

West Stand

East Stand

South Stand

Famous Five Stand

East Stand

South Stand

East Stand

Famous Five Stand

South Stand

East Stand and South Stand

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Hibernian 2-1 Rangers

Sunday 1st November 2015

Another early start for the Scottish groundhoppers eating our breakfast early and on the road just before 9am. Our first stop of the day was Stenhousemuir’s Ochilview Park (also shared with East Stirlingshire) which was only a mile down the road. When we arrived, we found (and expected) the ground was locked up so we decided, using a wheelie bin, we would get photos from over the wall. At which point, a youth football coach arrived in his car to open up the ground. To his bemusement, he let us inside to get some photos. Ochilview has a capacity of 3,746 with 626 seated. Currently shared with East Stirlingshire, Ochilview Park has also played host to the home games of other nearby clubs including Stirling Albion and Falkirk whilst their new stadiums were under construction.

As we made our way to Falkirk’s Falkirk Stadium, we took a brief detour to East Stirlingshire’s previous home Firs Park which has been left as abandoned wasteland with a turnstiles and a block of toilets remaining.

We continued our way across Falkirk to the Falkirk Stadium which was also hosting a Sunday market upon our arrival. The Falkirk Stadium has a capacity of 8,750 and currently consists of three fully completed stands. The stadium was opened in 2004 with only the main stand completed. In October 2004 construction work commenced for the building of a second stand to the north of the pitch. The stand has a capacity of 2,000. After completion, the £1.58m facility would bring the stadium's capacity to over the Scottish Premier League's 6,000 seating criteria meaning Falkirk would be allowed automatic promotion from the First Division. Construction of the south stand began in December 2008. A £2m pledge from Sandy Alexander, founder of Schuh and Falkirk supporter, helped fund the project. The south stand has a capacity of around 2,000 and is identical in appearance to the north stand of the stadium. This brought the capacity of the stadium to around 8,000 people without the inclusion of the temporary east stand. An artificial playing surface was installed at the stadium in June 2013.

As we were doing well for time, we decided to make the short journey north to Stirling Albion’s ForthBank Stadium. We found the ground was locked up and having high walls made it difficult to get photos inside. ForthBank Stadium opened in 1993, it has been the home ground of Scottish Professional Football League club Stirling Albion since then. The stadium has a capacity of 3,808. Forthbank was named after Forthbank Park, the first football ground in Stirling.

We made our journey towards to capital for our second match of the weekend. We were parked up on Halmyre Street before 11:30am and walked up Easter Road to the ground. We took photos outside the before visiting Almondvale Programmes which is a football programme Shop where Adrian knew the owner Brian Johnson (no, not that one!). With a heavy following from Glasgow meant that a complete police presence was in order with horses and a police cordon in full operation.

Easter Road currently has an all-seated capacity of 20,421 which makes it the fifth-largest football stadium in Scotland. Easter Road underwent major redevelopment in 1995. Stands behind each goal were built at a cost of £8 million, increasing the capacity to 16,531. The ground was made all seated by the installation of bucket seats in the East Terrace during 1995. Views of the pitch from this stand were somewhat restricted by supporting pillars. The Easter Road slope, which meant that the north end of the pitch was 6 feet lower than the south, was removed at the end of the 1999–2000 season. The West Stand was built in 2001 to replace the ageing main stand, increasing capacity to 17,500. Hibs announced in February 2010 that work would immediately begin on a new East Stand. Demolition of the old stand began in early March, and the stand was opened a month ahead of schedule in August 2010.

Without being unkind to Kilmarnock and Motherwell the main purpose of our second Scottish weekend was to visit Easter Road for Hibernian’s home game with Rangers.

Incredibly both find themselves playing in Scotland's second tier, but are two of the big guns in Scottish football.

Rangers arrived in the capital top of Scottish League 1 with 11 games played and 11 wins, Hibs in second place. The game was eagerly anticipated and didn't disappoint.

A good atmosphere generated and a pulsating game which could have gone either way. For the neutral an early goal is always welcome and the home side got it, an excellent left footed curling shot from Jason Cummings.

Rangers pressed with Barrie MacKay in midfield at the heart of their attacking play. The equaliser which had threatened came 90 seconds into the second period. Lee Wallace's left foot shot deflecting past the keeper by virtue of the heel of MacGregor.

It looked as if Rangers would go on to win the game.

Hibs keeper Oxley saved one handed a shot from Waghorn and the loose ball was smashed against the underside of the bar by Wallace.

Oduwa hit a post with another shot after coming off the bench.

The home side were also getting their opportunities as well McGinn firing wide then setting up Cummings who was denied in a one on one by Rangers keeper Fodringham.

At 1-1 the game could have gone either way, but it was Hibs that got the winning goal. McGinn’s corner headed home by Paul Hanlon, with the Rangers defence hesitant, the switching of their 5-3-2 system to 4-4-2 may not have helped.

Not surprisingly Rangers poured forward looking for an equaliser, but some stout defending by Hibs kept the leaders at bay, recording a valuable 2-1 win.

Rangers will play far worse and win, Hibs reducing the points gap between them and Rangers at the top to 5 points.

Overall an exciting game and a good atmosphere assisted by one stand full of Rangers supporters.

Our Scottish weekends need to be two game weekends to make it worthwhile and for the second time, Edinburgh was the place to be.

Following the match, we ran back to the car and heading out the city on the A199, A1, A720 before heading over the border via the A68 through the Northumberland National Park. After making our way around Newcastle upon Tyne on the A1, we stopped at Durham services for a rest and a bite to eat before continuing down the A1(M) and later the M1 getting home for 9pm.

<< PART 1 - Kilmarnock 0-1 Motherwell