Tynecastle Stadium

Tuesday, 11 August 2015

Heart of Midlothian 4-3 St Johnstone

Aerial shot of Tynecastle Stadium (www.dailyrecord.co.uk)

Programme - £3.50

Ratings

Overall Ground Quality : 8/10

Ease of getting there : 9/10

Atmosphere : 8/10

Programme : 8/10

View of Action : 8/10

Quality of the game : 8/10

The "football" feeling : 7/10

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

Legroom : 10/10

Surrounding area : 7/10

Overall : 74/100

Wheatfield Stand

Gorgie Stand

Main Stand

"Tynecastle Stadium"

Main Stand

Roseburn Stand

Roseburn Stand and Wheatfield Stand

Roseburn Stand

Main Stand

Gorgie Stand

Wheatfield Stand

Main Stand

Gorgie Stand

Wheatfield Stand

Main Stand with the Edinburgh roof tops in the distance

Main Stand

Gorgie Stand

Ticket for one please!
Single seating available at the either end of the Gorgie Stand

Wheatfield Stand

On the England/Scotland border

Looking over at the Scotland sunshine on the border

Heart of Midlothian 4-3 St Johnstone

Sunday 2nd August 2015

Another early start was in order to maximise the day. Once we were up and ready to go, we dumped our bags in the car, ate our breakfast, checked out and then straight on the A71 heading Edinburgh bound. By 9:30am, we were making our first stop of the day. Livingston play at the Almondvale Stadium which was constructed in 1995 as a joint venture between Meadowbank Thistle and the Livingston Development Corporation (LDC). Part of the deal involved the relocation of Meadowbank Thistle to the town and a name change to Livingston. When the LDC was wound up, ownership of the Stadium was transferred to West Lothian Council. Almondvale is a 9,865 capacity all-seater ground. It has four stands which are all roughly of the same height and two corners of the ground are filled with covered seating. There is an open corner on one side of the West Stand and there is also the 5 storey stadium house in the other corner of the ground which is primarily used for conferences and offices. All the stands are one tier high and the stadium has four large floodlights situated at each corner of the ground. The stadium is covered and shielded from the weather elements by the roof and the windshields at the side of the stands.

Following our stop in Livingston, we continued towards Edinburgh. With time on our side, we decided to squeeze in a final stop at Hibernian’s Easter Road. Easter Road currently has an all-seated capacity of 20,421. The size of the terracing was greatly reduced in the 1980s. After the publication of the Taylor Report, Hibs considered leaving Easter Road and moving to a different site, but these plans were abandoned in 1994. Redevelopment of the stadium began in 1995 and was completed in 2010. Easter Road is split into four geographic sections, the Famous Five (formerly North), East, South and West Stands. The Famous Five and South Stands are the oldest part of the present stadium, built in 1995. Each stand has two tiers, a cantilevered roof and a capacity of nearly 4,000. To keep within the boundaries of the site, the upper deck of each stand angles toward the centre. When the stands were built, the Famous Five Stand was above pitch level and the South Stand was below, but this was corrected when the natural slope was removed at the end of the 1999–2000 season.. Each stand also stretched beyond the east touchline, which was corrected by widening the pitch when the East Stand was rebuilt. Between the two tiers of the Famous Five Stand there are function suites and lounges. Before the stands were rebuilt in the 1990s, the north and south ends of Easter Road were known as the Cowshed and Dunbar End respectively. The southern end was called the Dunbar End because there was a lemonade factory named Dunbar's located behind it. The West Stand, which initially had a capacity of 6,500, was built in 2001. A reception area, club offices, media centre, banqueting suites, hospitality area and changing rooms are located in the West Stand. The capacity of the West Stand was reduced slightly when the new East Stand was constructed in 2010, as the pitch was widened during this development. The East Stand, which is the newest part of the stadium, was built in 2010. It is the only stand that is not split into two tiers and has a capacity of 6,400. The decision to build the East Stand as a single tier was taken to maintain the character of the old terrace, which had been a simple viewing area without many facilities.

Next, we made the stop start journey across Edinburgh to rivals Hearts where we would be sitting in on our second game of the weekend. As we continued down Gorgie Road, we started to notice that residential parking would be an issue (unlike Celtic Park!). We eventually found parking available on Saughton Avenue just off the Gorgie Road.

Once we parked up, we walked back toward Tynecastle Stadium getting photos outside and absorbing the optimistic atmosphere ahead of Hearts’ return to the SPL.

Tynecastle Stadium has a seating capacity of 17,529. Tynecastle is an all-seated stadium, split into four sections known as the Gorgie Stand, Main Stand, Wheatfield Stand and Roseburn Stand. The Main Stand was designed by noted football stadium architect Archibald Leitch and completed in 1919. It is split into two levels, with approximately 3,300 seats in the main section and 1,400 seats in a paddock to the front of the stand. The paddock was reduced in 1994, when the pitch was shifted 6 metres to the east to make room for the new Wheatfield Stand. The three other stands were constructed between 1994 and 1997, with all having a distinctive goalpost roof structure made out of steel tubes. Unusually, the framework sits at the front of each stand, which means that the support towers sit within 10 yards of the corner flag, forming an arch over the stand. The stadium floodlights sit on top of the support towers, angled down towards the pitch, like the lighting rigs used at concerts. The Wheatfield Stand, which seats just under 6,000 people, slopes at just under 34 degrees, the maximum angle permitted. The Roseburn Stand (School End) was completed in August 1995 and cost £1.4 million to build. The Roseburn Stand seated 3,676 when it was opened, but 280 seats were removed from both it and the Gorgie Stand when the pitch was lengthened in 2005 to meet UEFA requirements. The Gorgie Stand, which was completed in September 1997.

The second part of our Scottish weekend took from the largest city to the capital, Edinburgh.

If the match at Parkhead had been no more than ordinary, the clash between newly promoted Hearts and St Johnstone was everything a football fan wants - excitement, mistakes, goals and a good atmosphere.

Before the game we had more flag unfurling while Celtic were hoisting the SPL title flag up in Glasgow on Saturday, Hearts were doing similar, only this time it was the Scottish Championship flag (second division to us older folk!)

This flag unfurling is much a do about nothing, the celebration was surely last season and it doesn't help if there is no wind as the flag just hangs limply at the top of the pole.

Onto the game itself and as in Glasgow the day before, an early goal was scored courtesy of a mistake. Brad Mackay’s slip allowed new Hearts striker Juanma to open his account in the 4th minute. There was a very even feel to the game and you always fancied the visitors to score and just before the break they almost did, a John Sutton header cleared off the line by Nicholson following a cross from Lappin.

While the first half showed the game had potential, the second half well and truly delivered with goals galore.

Juanma was the architect of Hearts’ second. A lovely piece of skill and pace saw him tear into the St Johnstone half, release the pass to Nicholson who was immediately fouled in the penalty area by the Saints goalkeeper, a clear penalty. Sows weak penalty was saved but Jamie Walker followed the rebound to make it two-nil.

Immediately St Johnstone were back in the game, the Hearts goalkeeper Neil Alexander, flapped at a long throw by Shaughnessy and Simon Lappin poked home the loose ball – 2-1.

The goals kept coming and the home side were 3-1 up a few mins later. An excellent strike by right back Callum Paterson following a good pass by Walker, 3-1. Game over? Not a chance!

Sutton headed St Johnstone back into the game meeting Wotherspoon centre - 3-2.

Tynecastle Stadium was then silenced as Saints substitute Graham Cummins levelled for the visitors after several deflections fell his way in the penalty area – 3-3.

The game could literally have gone either way but it was Hearts that took the chance, young Sam Nicholson’s run from left to right wasn't picked up and he fired home a good ball into the box by Walker – 4-3.

A fantastic game to complete our Scottish football weekend and a great advert for Scottish football!

Following the match, we walked/ran back to the car hoping to beat any potential traffic heading out of Edinburgh towards the A720. The start of our long journey home!

We got on the A720 before joining the picturesque A68. At the English/Scottish border, we pulled over to have a rest and admire the views. On the other side of the road was a refreshments van where we had a cup of tea and a biscuit.

We continued our journey through Northumberland countryside on the A68 before joining the heavily rainy A1 at Newcastle which shortly followed with another stop at Durham services where we had a quick toilet stop and had some dinner (McDonald’s finest!). Whilst we were in the services, three cricketers who play for Yorkshire came in following their win at Durham’s Chester-le-Street with one of them being England International, Garry Ballance.

Our southbound journey continued down the A1, M18 and M1 finally reaching Leicestershire at around 9pm which for both of us shortly followed bed ahead of work on Monday.

A really enjoyable trip and we would both certainly consider doing two games in Scotland again if the opportunity came about.

PART 1 - Celtic 2-0 Ross County...