While you were all enjoying the scintillating performance v Petershill I decided to drive 7 miles from home to watch Bonnyrigg Rose v Stenhousemuir.
I hoped to see ex-players Will Sewell and NickyJamieson but Will’s welcome return to Barrfields meant all eyes were on Nicky. Edinburgh’s world-famous road closures and temporary traffic lights meant that I missed the first 15 minutes of the game. I took my place alongside a hundred-or-so Stenny supporters and within a quarter of an hour Nicky went down injured following an off the ball incident which resulted in the Rose player being red carded.
Going by the high-pitched squeal and large frame going to ground in agony I think Nicky had been hit in the…oh how can I say this without being gender specific, well he was hit below his waist line.
He had the last laugh despite some ill-mannered jeers from the Rose supporters and was my man of the match.

Bonnyrigg was a mining town and New Dundas Park looks as though it has a couple of collapsed mine shafts beneath the surface, the slopes are incredible. I’ve previously been there three times. First was a Scottish Cup replay the season after our Scottish Cup win in 1994, we lost 0-1 to a team well-marshalled by ex-Hibs defender Ally Brazil. As noses go, his love child could possibly be current referee Chris Gentles.

I also watched ex-players Mark Millar and Marty Orr play for East Stirlingshire when the teams werein the Lowland League in 2019. However, my favourite visit to Midlothian was when Theesel beat them 3-1 back in January 2010, the year we reached the Scottish Cup Final.
Heavy snow delayed the game for several weeks, I tried to inspect the park the previous week and found myself driving in 450mm snow drifts.
Wully McClure missed an early penalty and then we conceded the opener. Our 2nd half performance was immense, Wullie equalised and then James Marks ran amok and scored twice, receiving great praise from Gary Locke who had captained Kilmarnock and Hearts, his Dad was a Committee man for Rose.
After the game I headed for the Rose Social Club with a few other Theesel supporters and we had a nice wee sing song.
Admittedly a few beers were consumed and in a happy mood I jumped on the 49 bus, unfortunately on the wrong side of the street and ended up in a wee village called Rosewell instead of Edinburgh.
How would I describe Rosewell? Perhaps the armpit of Midlothian? Buses had stopped for the night and temperatures were below freezing so it was a very cold and shop soiled Swanny who had to bite the bullet and book a very expensive taxi back home.

Let me know if you have memories of other road trips following Largs Thistle and I’ll try to incorporate them in a future issue. I’m sure we all have some stories which can be shared, also a few which can’t.