TT No.229: Mike Latham - Wed 18 April 2007.  Haig Gordon Memorial Trophy S-F: Mid Annandale 1-1 Threave Rovers (Mid Annandale won 4-2 on penalties).  Attendance: 100 (h/c).  No admission or programme.  FGIF Match Rating: 3*

View matchday images 01 02 03 04 05   I must admit that the Haig Gordon Memorial Trophy had not featured on my radar until a visit to Dumfries FC the previous Saturday.   The manager of that fine club provided, most kindly, a printed sheet of fixtures in the South of Scotland League until the end of the season.  The game between these two sides, Mid Annandale from Lockerbie against champions elect Threave Rovers demanded attendance and so, on a dry but chilly April evening, here I was.   The excellent website: http://www.pollokfc.co.uk/directory/southofscot/southofscotlandleague.htm gives much-needed information on the South League and the origins of this trophy date back to 1965 when the death occurred of John Haig Gordon, a Southern Counties official and member of St Cuthbert Wanderers.   Lockerbie is situated about 20 miles north of the English border and about 75 miles south of Glasgow in Dumfries & Galloway. It is a small town of about 4,000 inhabitants on the main Glasgow-West Coast railway line which passes behind Mid Annandale’s ground at King Edward Park.  The ground is located to the north of the town, just off the Glasgow Road and next to the auction market. Lockerbie is known internationally as the disaster site where, just before Christmas 1988 landed the wreckage of Pan Am Flight 103.  The 270 fatalities of that despicable act of terrorism included eleven Lockerbie residents. Mid Annandale joined the South of Scotland League in 2003 and currently lie just one place from the bottom of the table. In all honesty if this was the first South ground you visited then you would hardly be enthused to visit the remaining thirteen.  Located as part of a public park there are no obvious spectator facilities apart from a grassed bank behind one goal that affords a decent view of play. There are no dug-outs, turnstiles, programmes, raffles, announcements, tea bars, social facilities or anything else normally associated with what Mid Annandale are- a member of a senior league.  The only reference to their existence is the team name inscribed above the entrance to the dressing room block in one corner of the complex. By the 7pm kick-off time, on a dry but chilly evening around 100 spectators have gathered to line the ropes.  ‘Mids’, as they are known to the locals take an early lead and though the visitors reply late in the first-half are well worth their draw in a decent game.  With darkness descending there is no time to decide the issue with extra-time and so kicks from the penalty mark are used to decide the tie, Mids prevailing thanks to some excellent saves from their goalkeeper, to spark celebrations of unbridled joy.

contributed on 20/04/07