Ground #384 - Stark's Park

Date: 5th May 2023
Ground: Stark's Park
Location: Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland

My ninth new ground of 2023 was on Friday 5th May at Stark's Park in Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland. The game was Raith Rovers vs. Partick Thistle in the Scottish Championship.

Stark's Park is located in the south of Kirkcaldy, towards its western edge. The ground is bordered by housing to the north and south and a railway line running directly west of the ground in between the stadium and a school. The eastern side is hemmed in by a road which gives the ground its unusual shape. It is one mile south of Kirkcaldy railway station and has been home to the club since 1891.

The ground is an odd mix of structures with the Main Stand in particular being rather unusual. This stand, built in 1925 starts from the south-east corner and works its way round to the halfway line where it has to stop due to the harsh encroachment from a road running alongside the ground. The two dugouts sit in this unused area so are not actually in front of any structures. The Main Stand is classic old design which had wooden seating and benching up until 1999 when plastic seats were put in. It has 5 supporting beams holding up the old roof and still houses the dressing rooms, ticket office and club shop.

Nowadays the ground is dominated by two large single tier stands at either end of the field. These identical structures hold 3,370 fans apiece thereby accounting for most than three-quarters of the current capacity. On my visit I was with the away fans in the northern end and with the wind protectors on either side the stand was very effective at keeping in the noise from the good travelling contingent to enable a great atmosphere. The western side of the ground is not currently in use - this thin stand is constrained by the railway line running behind and has concrete terracing for its southern half and bucket seating for its northern half. This stand is used to position the main TV gantry and would be brought back into use should Raith return to the Premiership.

The game was the final one of the Championship season. Raith had nothing but pride to play for after a very poor end to the season, with just one point from their previous six games, saw them marooned in 7th place nowhere near teams above or below. Partick entered the tie in 3rd place in the play-off places but there were a number of permutations which could see them topping the play-offs in a best case scenario and falling out of them entirely in a worst case scenario. What they did know was defeat would leave them relying on other results. With this in mind the away side leapt out of the traps almost scoring after eight seconds when Kyle Turner let fly with a curling 20 yard effort. This necessitated a good tip over by Raith keeper Jamie MacDonald. He was nearly beaten again with a long-range shot in the 18th minute - a cheeky quick free-kick by Ross Docherty tried to lob the home keeper from 40 yards but MacDonald was just able to backpeddle and tip over. It was little surprise then when the away side opened the scoring in the 21st minute, a Steven Lawless shot from the left was saved by MacDonald but he only pushed it as far as Darren Brownlie who knocked home. The game changed in the 34th minute when the home side were given a penalty for a Ross Docherty handful. Lewis Vaughan struck the penalty well sending David Mitchell in the Partick goal the wrong way. It was Raith's sole shot on target in the first half and Partick were unlucky to go in level going close just before the interval as Scott Tiffoney drove a low free-kick just wide of the post. 

The second half saw the teams trade attacks with a Raith shot blocked on the line before a minute later Partick had an effort blocked at close quarters. Another key moment came in the 59th minute - the visitors should have had a penalty but the referee failed to see a clear handball. Raith then went up the other end and a deflected Scott McGill shot ended up in the bottom corner to put the hosts 2-1 up. Ten minutes later the pendulum swung again when a ball was zipped across the Raith goal over to Aidan Fitzpatrick. The Partick midfielder squared the ball for Scott Tiffony who dispatched to level the game up at 2-2. The closing stages saw Raith's William Akio force a great save out of Mitchell with a curling effort and Aidan Fitzpatrick go on a mazy run before MacDonald saved his shot. The game finished 2-2 and the equaliser proved crucial for Partick in securing the final play-off spot at the expense of Greenock Morton. A great end-to-end encounter in front of passionate fans, the evening was a good advert for Scottish football.

Result: Raith Rovers 2-2 Partick Thistle

Division: Scottish Championship

Attendance: 2,899

Ground #266 - East End Park

Date: 1st May 2018
Ground: East End Park
Location: Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland

My fourteenth new ground of 2018 was on Tuesday 1st May at East End Park in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland. The match was Dunfermline vs. Dundee United in the Scottish Championship Play-Off Semi-Final 1st Leg.

East End Park is located on the edge of the Garvock residential area east of the town centre. The site has a road separating it from housing to the south, an Aldi to the west, a cemetary to the north and a car dealership to the east. Three-quarters of a mile north-east of Dunfermline Town railway station, the venue has been home to the club since 1920 when they moved having occupied a separate stadium at East End Park just to the east of the current ground.

The South Stand is considered the 'main' side of the ground. This stand includes the reception, a ticket office and a smart club shop which looks newly refurbished. The spectator areas facing the pitch consists of an upper seating deck of just over 3,000 seats which includes a media section. There are a couple of supporting beams to hold up the roof that sit in front of this seating deck. The lower deck used to have approximately 1,000 seats bolted onto an old concrete terrace which were split into two sections by the dugout area. In 2002 these lower deck seats were removed and executive boxes were added in their place for most of the length of the pitch. These are similarly split into two sections with a disused terrace section in the middle. This all gives the stand an unusual appearance with the hospitality boxes so low down. Level with the bottom of the box windows are the top of the two dugouts by the half-way line.

The opposite side of the field has the North Stand which has the shortest height of the four stands at the ground. This is the most dated structure and has lots of supporting beams in amongst the seating to support the roof. There are around 2,400 seats with a flat concrete area at the back. There is a also a TV gantry above the seating in the middle of the stand. The design of the stand means it retains sound very well generating a great atmosphere for this game. The two stands behind the eastern and western goals are near-identical with the only obvious differences being the police control box in the south-east corner and the player's tunnel in the south-west corner. Both stands are large single-tier structures that were constructed in 1998 to replace uncovered concrete terracing. Each offers uninterrupted views and have 3,016 seats apiece bringing the venue's current capacity to just under 11,500.

With the sides having finished 3rd and 4th in the Scottish Championship this was the first leg of the first stage of the play-off process for the Scottish Premiership. The hosts appeared much more up for the game and were clearly the better side in the opening half. Fraser Aird consistently caused Dundee United problems down the right and at the middle of the half his fizzed ball across the box just needed a home boot on it to nudge the ball home. As it was two defenders and one striker all collided stretching for the ball and the danger was over. The best opportunity came in the 38th minute - once again it was the inventive Aird who crossed in the ball from the right and Declan McManus' looping header from the six-yard line beat the keeper but not the crossbar. The ball bounced down and the rebound was knocked over the bar as the two sides went in level at the break. The hosts began the second half in a similar vein and went close again when Fraser Aird's 25-yard curling effort was acrobatically tipped over by visiting keeper Deniz Mehmet. The big moment of the match came in the 55th minute when a long goal kick by Mehmet was poorly defended leaving Dunfermline's Lee Ashcroft and Dundee United's Scott McDonald as the last two men before goal. A tangle ensued with McDonald going down fairly easily but referee Bobby Madden had no hesitation in producing a red card for Ashcroft. This turned the tide of the match and the away side were now the ones in the ascendancy. Scott Fraser flashed a shot just wide of goal from inside the area and an excellent save from home keeper Lee Robinson denied McDonald's low shot from 12 yards. Dunfermline were not done though and shortly after a free-kick into the box found the head of Nicky Clarke but with the goal seemingly goalbound Mehmet leapt across and palmed it away. In the 72nd minute Billy King was unleashed in on goal for the visitors but the keeper narrowed the angle well and his cross was deflected away before King's advancing teammate could knock the ball into the vacant net. The rest of the game was an end-to-end affair as both sides went for it in what was an exciting game that was only missing goals.

Result: Dunfermline 0-0 Dundee United
Division: Scottish Championship
Attendance: 6.474

Ground #263 - Central Park (Cowdenbeath)

Date: 10th April 2018
Ground: Central Park
Location: Cowdenbeath, Fife, Scotland

My eleventh new ground of 2018 was on Tuesday 10th April at Central Park in Cowdenbeath, Fife, Scotland. The match was Cowdenbeath vs. Montrose in Scottish League Two.

As the name would suggest the Central Park Stadium is part of a park in the centre of the town. The main green space area is to the north of the stadium site and there is more green space to the south. There is a large concrete area behind the western end which runs up to the edge of a housing estate while the eastern end has a car park in the north-east corner with the rest of this end taken up by trees separating it from a rail line. The stadium is a few hundred yards south-west of the town's railway station and has been home to the club since it opened in 1917 making this the third permanent home in Cowdenbeath's history after spells at Jubilee Park (1881-1888) and North End Park (1888-1917).

The stadium has hosted stock car racing since 1970 so the football pitch sits in the middle of an asphalt oval track. This results in the spectator areas being a way back from the action as well as meaning there is tall debris catch-fencing the entire way round the track. There are four floodlight pylons on each side of the field with none at the ends - as these are in front of the spectator areas they can cause restricted views but with current attendance levels this is not an issue. Three sides of the ground are uncovered concrete with the most spacious of these being the southern side which has a 19 row terrace with a flat section in front. At the very back of the middle area is a food outlet. The western end is similar in that is has a flat section at the front with a smaller 9 row terrace behind. The eastern end of the pitch does not have any terracing instead consisting of a flat section at the front and a large grass behind behind this.

The northern side used to have a single stand running the length of the field but half of this was destroyed in a fire in 1992. As a result the current arrangement is to have two separate stands, the original stand taking up the western half of this side and a newer stand built in 1995 taking up the eastern half of this side. Combined the two stands have a seating capacity of 1,622. The older stand dates from 1921 so consists of wooden seating with lots of supporting beams to hold up the roof. There is then a small gap the newer stand which has more modern seating and offers uninterrupted views due to the cantilever roof. There are hospitality boxes along the back and with the dressing rooms contained inside the players tunnel emerges from the bottom of the middle of this stand. At the back of this stand there is a food outlet. There is a Blue Brazil club shop towards the entrance in the north-east corner.

The game was between two sides encountering vastly different seasons - while Cowdenbeath were on course for a fourth consecutive bottom of the table finish Montrose were gunning for promotion only needing to avoid defeat to move to the top of the table. The opening 25 minutes were even with little quality from either side. The first action of note resulted in a goal as the visitors took a 26th minute lead. It occurred when the ball was played up to Lewis Milne who waited for it to come down before volleying into the ground with the ball then bouncing over diving home keeper David McGurn. This goal saw Montrose have the lion's share of the play until half-time though Cowdenbeath did go close just before the break when Harvey Swann's 25 yard shot skimmed the top of the bar. The visitors had the perfect start to the second half when they went 2-0 up barely a minute after the restart. A shot came in from outside the box, was spilled by McGurn and Martin Rennie tucked in the rebound from close range. The game was put to bed on the hour mark when Lewis Milne's superb curling free-kick into the corner put the away side 3-0 up. With the three points looking secure the encounter petered out with Montrose happy with their evening's work. Cowdenbeath came close to a consolation in the 86th minute when a cross from the right was met by a Robbie Buchanan shot which was cleared off the line. That would be the closest the hosts could manage to a goal as the result went the way of the form book.

Result: Cowdenbeath 0-3 Montrose
Division: Scottish League Two
Attendance: 378