10/42 - Shielfield Park, Berwick Upon Tweed

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4th July 2018
Ground Number: 10
Ground: Shielfield Park, Berwick Upon Tweed
Home of: Berwick Rangers FC
Match: Berwick Rangers V Hibernian
Score: 0-6
Attendance: 1410


I don't know what I was thinking quite frankly. It sounded like a good idea. It wasn't. It was not a good idea! What am I talking about? Well working all day then taking on a 222 mile round trip to tick off Shielfield Park in Berwick Upon Tweed. At least it's a big match though right? Nope. Another pre-season friendly!


Early enthusiasm is dampened by horrific traffic on the Edinburgh bypass. So bad in fact that it caused us to miss kick off! I am not amused! We end up arriving at Sheilfield around 5 minutes after kick off and decide to risk entering the car park at the ground. To our delight there are spaces and (yes Livingston) it's free! Result. We quickly get some pics outside and then we're in. A fair £10 tonight.

Once again the Club Shop greets us straight away so we quickly nip in to pick up a pin badge and they're huge! Literally double (in some cases triple) the size of any other we've picked up so far!


We grab a seat in the Main Stand and ask around us for the score. It's 0-0. At least we haven't missed anything. Berwick are taking on Edinburgh club Hibernian tonight and Neil Lennon has brought a strong team down the A1. They are taking this seriously. Truthfully they dominated throughout and were 3-0 up by half time. As always though, we're checking out the surroundings during the match and Sheilfield is a bit of a strange one. The stand we're in is fine. They only other option seems to be the terracing directly opposite. It seems you can't stand at either end. You wouldn't want to though being honestly. You'd be miles from the action. Ok maybe not but you get the idea.


Half time arrives (as it always tends to do) and it's a chance to go for a wander, grab some food and get some pics of the ground in the summer sunshine. David opts to go for chips and curry sauce tonight whereas I stick to the traditional pie. Thoughts? Pie good. Chips and curry? Heavenly. David loved them. So much so he wanted to go for more. He managed to refrain though. 



On our wander it's clear that as well as being a football ground there's something else going on here. Much like Cowdenbeath this place doubles as a racetrack. Here though it's motorbikes and not cars.  The second half starts and it's much the same as the first - a Hibs procession. Three more goals follow and it finishes 6-0 to the men from Leith. It does not flatter them. It's going to be a long season for The Borderers. 

We make a quick exit to grab some more snaps before getting back on the road up to Dundee.


Football grounds just seem better looking in the sun. Shielfield is defintley a strange one but we did enjoy our visit here. Super sized pin badges and chips and curry sauce = a good night out! That was ground number 10. Number 11 would be closer to home when the "real" football got underway.


























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