Damage in the Box!: ALBION ROVERS (Cliftonhill)

Embarrassing how I ended up at this game...I booked a cheap Virgin train to Glasgow to take in the CIS cup tie at Partick Thistle but (beacon cheeks) overslept and missed it! I was hell bent on seeing a game in Scotland so drove up there instead. As I was in the car, I didn't fancy driving into Glasgow city centre (especially as the area around Partick's ground is not the best to park a car, shall we say) so I headed to Coatbridge instead and Cliftonhill, the home of Albion Rovers.

The ground is an absolute tip, but thats the way (ah hah ah hah) I like it! Bags of character and not a bland stand in sight, in fact it was labelled "a shitehole" by the Livingston players on their arrival before the game, but as the Albion officials (kind of) retorted "it is OUR shitehole" a reference to the financial problems that Livingston have been experiencing. This game was in doubt right up until the previous 48 hours when Livingston were brought back from the brink after being saved by from liquidation.

This meant the crowd was swelled by over 400 travelling Livi fans, who were quite understandably just happy to be there. Albion came out of the blocks fast and were clearly "up" for the game. They took the lead after nine minutes when a Bobby Barr corner was punched into his own net by Livi 'keeper Roddy McKenzie. It was Barr himself who added the second three minutes into the second half when he fired home after a good move and cross from the left. Substitute Marc McCusker completed the scoring in the final minute when tapping home from a couple of yards, to send the home fans delirious.

There are long term plans afoot to sell off the ground and move to a brand new purpose built stadium, so very soon another "gem" will be lost forever. Please pay a visit whilst you can!!