10/10/2026
Ground 201!!!!
Middle of October and we're already playing our second League match of the season against Hutchie Vale. Groundwork at Saughton means that today saw the first indoor match in our history at the gargantuan indoor pitch at Oriam.
Kirkcaldy made two changes from last week's defeat at Whitburn. Ryan Westbrook replaced Jay Watson at right back and Jack O'Donnell came in upfront.
In slightly eerie surroundings of a cavernous indoor arena with a full size professional football match going on we began at 15:01. The match got off to the worst possible start for Kirkcaldy. A ball down the right was squared across. Owain was unable to intercept and the ball was tapped home.
The quarter hour mark saw Kirkcaldy finally start to get a foothold. Link up work with the front four caused problems. Dall and Hunter both won corners but neither lead to any big chance. Kian Morris had a fantastic effort that was well parried by the goalkeeper. More pressure nearly rewarded, great work by Morris in the engine room released Hunter who passed to Dall but the shot was saved. Twenty one minutes it went from bad to worse. A ball through again left the defence in the lurch. Cammy McGregor could only bring the striker down illegally and the penalty was awarded. The kick cooly dispatched and Kirkcaldy were two behind.
The game was the same as Whitburn last week. Kirkcaldy behind after dominating large parts of the game. The strike force, lethal throughout August and September, were off the boil. The half hour saw the first change with Steven Pate replacing Cammy McGregor. Cammy already booked and given away a penalty withdrawn as a precaution. The hosts really should have been out of site. The ball through again caused issues. Squared across but the striker unable to control kept the game a contest. Ynyr Liddell and Kieran Dall both had late chances. Ynyr's header looped over and Kieran's shot was dragged narrowly wide.
A disappointing first half saw our second change during the break with Logan King returning from injury to replace Callum Murray. Utter domination from Kirkcaldy at the beginning of the second half but still couldn't find a break through. Kirkcaldy kept peppering the goal. Dall and Morris both had chances. Finally, Kirkcaldy got back into the game after sixty one minutes. Liddell did well to win a free kick on the edge of the area and Jack O'Donnell rifled the ball into the net and it was game on.
But of course, having just got back into the game it was again a through ball past the defense and the striker finished well. Sixty sixth minute saw Joe Cunningham return for the first time since August. Replacing Jordan Hunter as Kirkcaldy looked to find a way back. Another freekick by O'Donnell almost provided another chance. The keeper parried but this made a sensational save to deny Kieran Dall a tap in. Kieran having run himself into the ground was replaced by Shay Brough in the seventy sixth minute.
The game fizzled out. Kirkcaldy had chances in this game in a similar tale to last week. Many chances but not enough were taken. Back to Denfield next week against Heriot-Watt University.
It was good to see a new ground for the first time since June. Indoor football is quite the novelty. Not sure if we'd make a habit of it though. Obviously our Kirkcaldy and real life commitments have curtailed what we can do. The weather changing means fewer midweek games but we can see what we can do before the end of the year.
