TT No.102: Mike Latham - Sat 30 October 2010: Emirates Junior Cup Rd 2: Lugar Boswell Thistle 0-0 Lochgelly Albert: Admission: £4; Attendance: 170 (h/c); FGIF Match Rating: 3* 

 

 

 

Matchday images (12) http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/footballgroundsinfocus/LugarBoswellThistleFC02

 

Another Scottish Junior Cup Saturday blessed by glorious late autumn sunshine but several ties had fallen foul of water-logging due to the intense rain of Friday including my intended destination of Muirkirk. With some relief I discovered that just further along the A70 the Lugar tie was definitely on after a 9-30am pitch inspection.

 

Lugar is a small village with a population of just over 200 people, close to the junior footballing hotbeds of Cumnock and Auckinlech and about 18 miles south-east of Kilmarnock. It was established in the 1840s with cottages built to house the workers at the ironworks and blast furnaces and neighbouring coal-mines. The ironworks closed in the 1920s and the deep mines are also long gone though there are several open-cast mining sites along the A70 road that winds its way through from J12 of the M74 eventually towards the coast at Ayr.

 

For a major road the A70 isn’t the best, winding, undulating, narrow in parts and potholed and rutted in others. It’s 20 miles from the motorway to Lugar and they are 20 hard miles to drive especially if you battling against the clock to make the 2pm kick-off after delays on the journey north.

 

Fortunately I arrived just in time to hear the shrill whistle of the referee summon the players from the dressing rooms.  The ground is easy to find, located on the right-hand side of the road just before the village and there is plenty of parking opposite the ground or on a grassed area behind the far-side goal.

 

The ground is basic by junior standards but on a dry and bright afternoon looked a picture.  The main facilities are located alongside the nearside adjoining the road where the dressing room block, erected in 2001, the tea-bar, committee-room building and a small standing cover are located.  On the far side are several rows of steep terracing backed by grass banks, behind which towers a steeply rising wooded hill-side.  Several bench seats are placed strategically along this side and afford an excellent and comfortable view of the game. Both ends are flat with the customary roller left behind one goal.  With some stunning scenery, including the railway viaduct of the former Auchinleck-Muirkirk railway line that once served the ironworks and mines this is an atmospheric and unusual setting.

 

Though the village is small and the history of the football club, formed back in 1878 relatively modest compared to the likes of their near neighbours at Auchinleck and Cumnock the support for Thistle is impressive.  Apparently supporters from the neighbouring villages of Logan, Gasswater and Cronberry help swell the numbers and by kick-off time around 170 have gathered to watch the game including around 50 or 60 having made the journey from Fife to support the visitors. Even allowing for this a home support of around 100 is impressive bearing in mind the population of Lugar.

 

Rosebank Park has been home to Lugar FC since their formation in 1878. After a spell as a senior club they joined the juniors and were Scottish Junior Cup finalists in 1957. Originally known as Lugar Boswell, they added ‘Thistle’ after the Second World War. The ‘Boswell’ link, I was told comes from James Boswell, the ninth laird of Auchinleck, an 18th century lawyer, diarist and author whose biography of the British author, poet, essayist, moralist and lexicographer Samuel Johnson became a classic work. The term ‘Boswell’ passed into English language as a term for a constant companion and observer. Sadly, his literary background does not appear to have been passed on in the shape of a lasting souvenir of a visit here as Thistle do not produce programmes for games- any observation, moralising, or diarising being left to the club’s webmaster or contributors to the Pie and Bovril internet forum.  What use would James Boswell have made of that?

 

The bookmakers had decided that this tie was too hard to call and, true to form, they were right.  Both sides gave their all, the action was fast and fluid, the tie was played in a good spirit and excellently refereed but after 90 lung-bursting minutes and several close calls there were no goals.  The teams will meet again in Fife next Saturday.

contributed on 31/10/10