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McDiarmid Park

Saturday 3^rd January 2026

It’s been more than a month now since I last managed to get to a new SPFL ground. Between busyness at work and general Christmas busyness it hasn’t been possible to plan any journeys too far from home. I did sneak in a midweek fixture at Cove Rangers (seeing them get knocked out of the KDM Evolution Trophy by Partick Thistle) and a post-Christmas trip back to Gayfield to see Arbroath take on Airdrie with most of Naomi’s family (the lure of the smokie pies was enough for Alex, Sylvie, and Ruby to all agree to go to their first ever football match, and Richard to go to his first game in about 40 years).

Another long weekend, and so a decent break from work, meant that it was a bit easier to look at options for a second game in two weekends. A quick glance at the fixture list showed that Arbroath were away at St Johnstone today. If you haven’t already worked out that I have fallen for Arbroath then take this as the official coming-out party. Any opportunity to tick off a new ground and see Arbroath play is going to be high up my list of options in any given week.

This would be the second (and therefore last) time that Arbroath play at McDiarmid Park this season, the first being a 3 – 0 loss back in August. Given that this is the first time that the two teams have been in the same division since 2003 and St Johnstone currently look likely to secure an immediate return to the Premiership this is likely to be the last opportunity to see Arbroath play here for at least a couple of years.

St Johnstone currently sit top of the Championship, five points clear of Partick Thistle. They have led the way almost from the get go this season having started out with a 5 – 1 win over Partick. There have been a few hurdles along the way so far but in a division as competitive as the Championship that is to be expected and they have always managed to recover their form quickly, as evidenced by the fact that they have only lost two of their 20 games in the league.

This was clearly going to be a tough game for Arbroath who have definitely been stronger at home than on their travels this season. Their cause also wouldn’t be helped by a number of big absences in their squad. The most notable of these would be Taylor Steven who is actually on loan to Arbroath from St Johnstone and therefore ineligible to play against his parent club. He’s been a key factor in Arbroath’s attack and has often been noted for celebrating victories with the fans as though he’s supported the club since birth. In addition to Steven Arbroath would also be without another recent loanee, Brooklyn Kabongolo, who has been recalled by Livingstone in an attempt to strengthen their defence and fight to secure their place in the Premiership, and will be a big loss both physically and metaphorically. Further absences include Jack Wilkie (who was sent off in last week’s draw with Airdrie) and the injured contingent of Flynn, Dow, Stewart, and Watson. For a part-time team missing seven players in the same week means that the cupboard is pretty bare, as a result I was going into this game with very low expectations and finding a way to get a point would be a fantastic result.

The big concern ahead of the game was the weather. Football in Scotland in January is always likely to be a cold and slightly miserable experience but a mixture of yellow and amber weather warnings for snow and ice in the days leading up to the game meant that there was a very real risk of the fixture not going ahead. The weather would almost certainly see numerous cancellations further down the SPFL but my hope was that the facilities at McDiarmid Park, in particular their undersoil heating, would ensure the game went ahead.

The other concern, assuming the game was on, was travelling down to Perth. Given the potential for weather related disruption on the railways, and the fact that McDiarmid Park is a 45 minute walk from Perth railway station, I decided to take matters into my own hands and drive down to the ground.

The snow arrived on New Years Day. It was never particularly heavy but the next flurry was also never very far away and so by the morning of January 2nd we woke up to about four inches of the white stuff in Aberdeen. Throughout the day on Friday there was steadily more and more snow falling and by Saturday morning there was over six inches on the car. I considered reverting to the train for the journey but as the snow was fresh I thought it would be manageable and looking at traffic cameras from further south on the A90 it looked as though it would clear after about 30 miles.

I was proved right on both counts. Getting out of Aberdeen wasn’t too bad and whilst the stretch south of the city as far as Laurencekirk was slow going and required constant concentration the roads never got too bad and the weather ahead looked to be improving. By the time I got to Forfar I’d covered 40 miles in about an hour and a half but I was greeted with clear skies and, crucially, clear roads as all signs of the snowstorm I’d just driven through disappeared. The remainder of the journey was smooth sailing and I arrived at McDiarmid park shortly before the gates opened.

I was met by a very friendly car park attendant who was very surprised to see snow on my car and impressed (or confused) by my decision to drive down from Aberdeen for the game. I had a quick hunt around for the club shop but could find no sign of it so had to resort to buying a pin badge online when I got home. A St Johnstone fan then accosted me to see if I could find out the score in the Old Firm game for him. After letting him know that Celtic had thrown away a 1 – 0 lead at halftime to lose 1 – 3 at home he told me that St Johnstone would beat Arbroath 5 – 0 today. I’ve already said I wasn’t confident but this prediction seemed like an almighty stretch to me.

Despite forcing us to choose seats when booking our tickets St Johnstone had closed off a large section of the away end, including the area with my seat. We were told to just sit anywhere so I found a spot with a good view and tried, unsuccessfully, to use a cup of tea to warm myself up.

With Gayfield just 40 miles from McDiarmid Park Arbroath had brought a good away crowd with them. The reduced area for the Arbroath fans filled up quickly and not long before the kickoff we saw the slightly farcical sight of stewards carrying stackable plastic chairs for fans to sit on in the aisles as there was nowhere else for them to go….

The teams were announced and there were some surprises in the Arbroath line-up. Despite expecting them to miss the game both Stewart and Watson were back in the starting 11 and Dow was fit enough to make the bench. Although we were still short in a number of areas and were reliant on a couple of largely untested players it wasn’t quite as much of a makeshift team as I had expected.

The game started with St Johnstone immediately on the front foot. An early speculative effort from Reece McAlear said well over the bar before some neat passing down the left hand side between Josh McPake and Jason Holt saw the ball pulled back to Jamie Gullan inside the Arbroath box. He took a couple of touches which created acres of space but followed McAlear’s lead by shooting over the bar when it would probably have been easier to score.

The referee also used the early stages of the game to get his whistle warmed up, blowing for a series of fouls (against both sides) which neither set of fans could believe were being given. This became a theme throughout the game and was probably the worst performance by a referee and his linesmen that I have seen. I wondered whether I was being too critical but a quick scan of the match thread on ‘Pie and Bovril’ suggests that this was a widely held opinion.

After the first ten minutes or so Arbroath started to grow into the game. Consistent possession and tidy passing saw their confidence grow but the final ball was often lacking and St Johnstone repelled the attacks comfortably. A series of corners were won and the best chance of this period fell to Gavin Reilly who couldn’t connect with the cut back as he would have wanted and the shot was easily collected by Toby Steward in the St Johnstone goal.

The opening goal would eventually come from an Arbroath corner but unfortunately for the visitors it would not be them who scored it. As the corner broke down the ball was cleared long by Gullan and Arbroath right back, Victor Enem, looked to have time to control it and play a pass. He chose to knock the ball back to Aidan McAdams in the Arbroath goal but underhit the pass horribly allowing Adama Sidibeh to run through unmarked, collect the ball, and slot it past McAdams to give St Johnstone the lead.

Shortly after falling behind Arbroath found themselves clean through on goal after an attempted tackle on Scott Stewart saw the ball ricochet back into his path. Morgan Boyes couldn’t catch up to him so decided to launch himself at him before Stewart got into the box and shoved him to the ground. Play stopped before St Johnstone realised the referee hadn’t blown his whistle and they played on. The reaction from the Arbroath fans around me was visceral and didn’t die down for the remainder of the game.

St Johnstone had regained the upper hand and Sidibeh found himself breaking into the box again. He couldn’t quite get the ball out from under his feet before it ran away from him and he decided to theatrically dive towards McAdams. There had been no challenge on him so whether it was an attempt to influence the clueless referee or to persuade his teammates that there was nothing more he could have done wasn’t clear.

The first half ended much as it had started. St Johnstone yet again getting the better of the Arbroath full back, this time down their right hand side, and creating a chance that should have been scored but instead trickled just wide.

During the break both sets of substitutes were sent out to warm up. I don’t think I can remember such a lackluster attempt to do so at any point though. Both groups seemed to recognise that nothing they did would actually cut through the icy chill around the ground and so they simply huddled together pretending to pass to one another. Given that St Johnstone only made one change all game the substitutes were probably right not to bother.

The second half was a largely forgettable affair. Arbroath continued to work hard but without any reward, and largely without much of a sniff of one either. St Johnstone on the other hand had plenty of chances but a combination of poor finishing and some inspired goalkeeping and defending kept them at bay. The highlight of the second half was probably a surprise appearance in the stand of Dick Campbell, former Arbroath manager and a figure of mixed popularity amongst the fans. His current team, East Fife, are due to play Arbroath on Tuesday in the KDM Evolution Trophy so he was clearly at the game for some advanced scouting. He got a decent reception given the acrimonious circumstances of his departure just over two years ago.

The game ended 1 – 0. Arbroath had made a game of it and given this was always going to be a tough game away to the league leaders it was a creditable defeat. If nothing else it had shown the fan I had spoken to before the game that his prediction was way off the mark. I made it back to my car and faced a seemingly interminable wait for the cars around me (which were blocking me in) to leave. I eventually made it out and started the journey back to the frozen north.

The satnav took me north away from Perth heading initially towards Braemar before cutting cross-country towards Coupar Angus and Forfar. The advantage of this route was that I didn’t need to worry about the traffic in Perth or Dundee but I was a little concerned about what the country roads would be like. I needn’t have worried as they were absolutely fine and I made good progress eventually rejoining the A90 and heading on towards Aberdeen.

The further north I got the worse the roads became. They were definitely better than when I had been heading south as it was obvious that snowplows and gritters had been out in force. The impact of these and the continued snow meant that large snow drifts, sometimes six feet high had formed at the side of the road. Although it wasn’t snowing while I was driving there was a strong wind that was blowing the fresh snow across the road and reducing the visibility to just a couple of metres at times.

The section from Laurencekirk to Stonehaven was again the toughest but (almost) everyone drove sensibly and respected the conditions. It was slow going and required a lot of concentration but actually wasn’t too bad. Once I was past Stonehaven the roads improved slightly and the last 20 minutes was relatively comfortable. I even managed to get back up our street to be able to park outside the house. The conditions were a little bit mad though and, although it was nice to escape the snow for a day, in hindsight I probably shouldn’t have made the trip. Who would have thought that a drive from Aberdeen to Perth on a Saturday afternoon would probably be the most epic journey of this endeavour….

The Facts

• Ground
  • McDiarmid Park
• Home
  • St Johnstone
• Away
  • Arbroath
• Competition
  • Scottish Championship
• Result
  • 1 – 0
• Scorers
  • Adama Sidibeh
• Attendance
  • 4,462
• Cost
  • £24
• Total distance travelled
  • 192 miles
• Transport
  • Car
• My MotM
  • Jamie Gullan, seemed to be constantly creative in his advanced midfield role and often found space to accept the final ball and take a shot. On another day he could have scored a couple but his finishing was wasteful.