VENUE #71 HIBERNIAN Easter Road

LADBROKES CHAMPIONSHIP

SATURDAY 23rd JANUARY 2016

@ EASTER ROAD, EDINBURGH

GROUND CAPACITY:-  20,451

KICK OFF:  15:00

ENTRY FEE:  £22

PROGRAMME:  £2  

VENUE # 71

     HIBERNIAN ... 3     St. MIRREN ... 1

      Once again a great day out in Scotland was marred by the journey or more specifically the mode of transport I use.  I told you in my last blog about the problems that the weather caused to the rail service, the persisting rain caused floods and landslides and closed the West coast passage to Glasgow central, well the repair work was in action on the Carlisle to Glasgow Central line today which meant that a bus service from Carlisle to Glasgow and Edinburgh was in operation.
      I must admit though the outward journey went quite smoothly catching the train at

Wolverhampton to Carlisle and the bus service was waiting at the front of Carlisle station to take us straight to Edinburgh.  On arrival at Waverley station I went to the rail information desk to ask about the journey back and was told that the coach service to Carlisle stopped at two o'clock and the East coast train to Birmingham passing through Newcastle and Doncaster had been cancelled.  Refusing to believe that I was going to be stuck in Edinburgh overnight I went back to the coach terminal and asked one of the stewards about the times of coaches back to Carlisle and he told me that they ran every two hours ending at 18:50
      That meant that there was a coach departing at 16:50 and if I caught it I would be able to make the last train to Wolverhampton which left at 20:00.  Needless to say I left the ground about 25 minutes early and ran the 20 mins walking distance to the coach terminal only to see as I got to the top of the street the Carlisle coach disappearing in the distance.

      Breathless, hot and tired I approached the coach stewards who told me to go and have a cup of coffee and return to them two hours later and they would see to it that I got back home that night and so I did to find two virgin train staff with the stewards discussing my predicament.  One of the Virgin staff saw the Hibernian programme in my hand and asked me if I had enjoyed the game and finding out that he was a Hibernian fan and had also been to the game earlier.  He said that because my ticket had advised me to catch the 18:50 coach back to Carlisle and there was no train there to connect with it he would arrange a taxi for me at Carlisle to take me back home at the expense of Virgin Trains and if I had gone to watch Hearts instead of Hibernian he would not have done this for me but I think he was only joking.
      And so my train journey back home consisted of a two hour mini bus ride from Edinburgh to Carlisle and a three hour taxi journey from Carlisle to Walsall and seeing that my return ticket to Edinburgh only cost me £30 for advanced booking I think that Virgin trains lost a good bit of money on my football trip.

      Hibernian as expected dominated most of this game and keep the pressure on league leaders

Rangers.  Hibees took the lead when Jack Baird brought down Liam Henderson about 4 yards outside the St. Mirren 18 yard box.  Henderson took the free kick himself bending it around the wall and keeper into the top far side corner of the net.
      The Saints keeper Jamie Langfield kept them in the game as Hibs got stronger and lay siege on the on the Buddies goal that was until the last minute of the first half when Jason Cummings set up John McGinn who stroked the ball home from 12 yards.

   The home sides cheers had barley died down when St. Mirren reduced the deficit when a free kick was awarded around the same distance as Henderson's but more central outside the Hibs penalty area.  Stevie Mallan struck the dead ball superbly finding Mark Oxley's bottom right hand corner.
      Play continued in the second as in the first with fine dominating work from the Hibernian side but it seemed as though the goals had dried up mainly due to some great goalkeeping from Langfield again who managed to keep the Easter road side out that is until the 90th minute when substitute Anthony Stokes on loan from Celtic tapped the ball home after some good work from fellow sub James Keatings.  

      Easter Road is a 20,451 all seated stadium built in 1893 where they've played their home football ever since.  Although the ground is a great age it has undergone vast improvement in the last two decades virtually being rebuilt to bring it up-to-date with modern health and safety measures. The name Hibernian was derived from the Roman name Hibernia which basically means Ireland and is a reason for the green and white kit colour.
    The ground is a 20 minute walk from Edinburgh Waverley railway station which is one of the better distances encountered by me this season.

   The East stand where I watched the game is the most recent to re-built with a 6,500 capacity, it is single tiered and is fully covered.  The stand is quite steep which means that even at the top you still feel quite close to the action on the pitch, although the steps up to the top would have even Rocky gasping for his breath.
      Behind the stand is a large area with lots of food and drink outlets and TV's to watch Scottish highlights on.  The entrances to the blocks are well sign posted so you can find your seat quite easily.
 The toilets are new, clean and quite big with lots of sinks to wash your hands in which is not high on the priority lists at most grounds.  The décor of the toilets could be a lot better though with just plain unpainted breeze blocks.

     On the opposite side of the pitch is the West stand which is the same size as the the east but is two tiered with a gap between to house corporate hospitality facilities.  The top tier is much larger than the bottom with a perspex strip under the roof to let in more natural light.
     This stand also houses the players tunnel, dugouts and also has wind-shields at each end of the stand as do the other three stands and although ten years older than the East stand is the more impressive to look at.

     The two ends of the ground known as the Famous five end and the south are two identical stands, being the oldest parts of the stadium both are two tiered and fully covered with a cantilevered roof  and have around a 4,000 seating capacity.   The famous five stand previously known as the North stand or Cowshed has function suites and lounges between the two tiers.





      The lower tier part of the South stand central behind the goal is dedicated to away support but if demand needs then the whole of the bottom tier is allocated.
      The South stand was known as the Dunbar before the modifications in the mid 90's solely because there was a lemonade factory of the same name behind it.

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