42

Meadowbank Stadium

Saturday 21^st March 2026

As this season has progressed one thought has begun to gnaw away in the back of my mind, what if I miss a club entirely because they finish as Club 42 and lose the relegation playoff before I get a chance to see them? One idea I had was that I could try and go to the home leg of the relegation playoff, that would ensure that I saw the team before the outcome of the game was known but is also completely dependent on me being free on that date. Given we’d be well into the cricket season by then that would be unlikely even setting aside the fact that I might have to travel as far afield as Annan depending on who actually finished bottom of League 2…

This week then was my first attempt to try and avoid that situation whilst also taking advantage of the fact that I was down in Edinburgh on a Saturday afternoon anyway. Edinburgh City are one of two lower league clubs based in the capital and I’d already had a chance to see them earlier in the year when they had taken on The Spartans at Ainslie Park in October.

Readers with a good memory will recall that Edinburgh City’s win in that game had taken them to a grand total of 0 points for the season from nine games after they had been handed a 15 point penalty for an ‘insolvency event’ when an invoice for £5,000 had been paid late. In my write up of that fixture I had said that overcoming their penalty after just nine games boded well for Edinburgh’s season and they would be looking upwards at who they could start to pick off in their hunt for safety.

That was the first Saturday in October and we now find ourselves on the third Saturday in March with the bleak reality that Edinburgh City are still bottom of League Two and have been for every single moment of the 2025-26 season so far. They had narrowed the gap to ninth placed Dumbarton but have not yet managed to reel them in. After various results hadn’t gone their way in recent weeks Edinburgh City remain six points behind Dumbarton with just seven games remaining. The next closest team, Stirling Albion, are 11 points clear of Edinburgh meaning that relegation looks to be a two horse race. Given that the final game of the season sees Dumbarton travelling through to Edinburgh the battle to avoid finishing last of the 42 could well be decided that afternoon.

Edinburgh City have been fairly nomadic in their history having played at six different grounds before their current home at Meadowbank Sports Centre. This is a refurbishment of the old Meadowbank Stadium which was used as the location for the 1970 and 1986 Commonwealth Games, and was also one of Edinburgh City’s previous homes as well. The new centre is a fantastic facility for the city and it has everything that you would expect to find at a modern sports centre including indoor and outdoor running tracks. Unfortunately this seems to be the priority over the match day experience for Edinburgh City fans.

Having visited Meadowbank before (to watch the Scottish Open snooker on a couple of occasions) I knew where I could park for free nearby so made my way there and set out on the short walk to the ground. It was an absolutely lovely day and so on leaving the car I was faced with an important decision, to coat or not to coat. I decided to make the most of the weather and headed off in just my jumper. I reached Meadowbank in just a couple of minutes and was straight through into the ground.

I’d read online that Meadowbank doesn’t have many redeeming qualities and the reports were entirely accurate. As far as I can tell there was no club shop, no programmes, no halftime draw, and the refreshments consisted of a burger van parked near the turnstyles. There is a low, three row, stand running the length of one side of the pitch but this set back a long way from the playing surface due to eight lanes of running track and a triple jump pit. You can stand around the other three side but with each of these you’re lower down and further away from the pitch than if you are in the stand. From my seat the far touchline looked to be in a different postcode to me!

Whilst I was waiting for the game to start and reminding myself which other games were taking place today I was approached by the fan sitting a few seats down from me. He asked if I was an Edinburgh City supporter and was disappointed to learn I wasn’t as he was hoping for some info on where he could find a programme or a pin badge. I let him down gently with my conclusion that we were both likely to be out of luck. Despite my normal introversion at football matches he was keen to chat, so we continued talking about games we’d seen recently (he’s an Ashington AFC fan and had therefore spent most of his time in deepest, darkest Northumberland seeing teams like Seaton Sluice) whilst getting a cup of tea and heading back to our seats.

With typically minimal fanfare the teams emerged from the sports centre and took their places to get the game underway. Despite their recent form Edinburgh City actually started the game on the front foot They were zipping their passes around making sure that everyone got a touch a were fairly methodical in how they were attempting to break Elgin City down. The final ball was fairly consistently lacking though there didn’t seem to be any real threat to Tom Ritchie in the Elgin goal. The first shot didn’t arrive until 16 minutes into the game and when it did it came from distance and was well wide.

Malek Zaid was Edinburgh’s most creative player throughout the first half and the first real chance fell to him following good work by Ouzy See to hold up a long ball and wait for support to join him. Ritchie saved well from Zaid before doing so again from Innes Lawson just a few minutes later.

From this point on Elgin City started to work themselves back into the game. On 25′ they worked a series of short passes well to open up the Edinburgh defence but was the chance opened up for them the final shot was snatched at and never threatened the goal. Just three minutes later however more smart work down the same flank was rewarded when a deep cross was headed back across goal by Dylan Ross and then turned in from a couple of inches out by Ryan Girvan. Edinburgh looked rattled and to be honest never recovered from the goal.

Edinburgh manager, Michael McIndoe, has come in for a lot of criticism from the team’s own fans recently and it was easy to see why. He was vocal throughout the first half but spent most of his time shouting obvious and unnecessary instructions like ‘chase that!’ and ‘clear it!’. I imagine that even lower league part-time footballers can manage things like that by themselves. If ever he felt one of his players wasn’t doing exactly what he wanted in the way he wanted them to he was very happy to point this out to them.

His leadership style has obviously worked it’s way through the club. When Edinburgh conceded a free kick just outside the box goalkeeper, Mark Weir, started trying to organise a defensive wall. He wanted two players in the wall, we could hear that clearly enough even at the halfway line but not a single Edinburgh player was interested in following his instructions. After a few repeated requests for the same thing he screamed ‘why is no-one fucking listening to me!’ before giving up on his quest.

A few minutes later, on the stroke of halftime, Weir had the opportunity to voice his frustrations again when Elgin doubled their lead. A quick throw-in was cut back through the Edinburgh defense by Miko Virtanen who picked out Ryan Sargent. He took his shot first time and fired the ball past Weir into the far bottom corner of the goal. It was far too easy for Elgin and you could fully understand Weir’s anger at his teammates. As the players went off for the break my groundhopping pal commented that Edinburgh had had the better chances but were two – nil down. I know the action was taking place a long way away but to my mind Elgin City fully deserved their comfortable lead.

The second half began with Edinburgh City kicking for the corner which seems to be the fashion in football these days. Unfortunately for them they couldn’t even get this right as the ball went out for a goalkick midway between the goal and the corner flag. They did manage to pick up a free kick in a dangerous looking position on the edge of the box just a couple of minutes later but Jasin Jarvis’ effort went into the side netting, Ritchie had obviousy succeeded where Weir had failed in getting his wall in the correct position.

On 63′ (Arbroath loanee) Ali Spalding broke from Elgin’s midfield and made some space for himself before unleashing a powerful rising shot at goal. It looked as though it was headed for the top corner before Weir managed to stretch out a hand and tip it over the bar. The reprieve for Edinburgh didn’t last long though. If Elgin’s second goal had looked too easy their third was a walk in the park. The resulting corner was flicked on at the near post by Virtanen and a completely unmarked Sargent nodded home for his second and Elgin’s third.

Edinburgh’s play had become increasing desperate and they were now just sending long balls up in the hope that their substitutes fresh legs would beat the tiring Elgin defenders. The passes weren’t accurate enough though and there was little of note from Edinburgh in the last 20 minutes.

The only incident of note in the dying stages was a howler from the referee (who had otherwise had an excellent game). Tiwi Daramola was breaking down Edinburgh’s left wingand had knocked the ball into some space when two Elgin defenders collided with each other five yards from anyone else. Daramola ran onto the ball but was pulled back by the referee who blew for a freekick to Elgin and booked Daramola for his trouble. To say the Edinburgh players were angry with this would be an understatement…

The referee brought the game to an end and probably brought Edinburgh’s season to an end. Elsewhere Dumbarton had beaten Annan Athetic at home to extend their unbeaten run to six games and their lead over Edinburgh City to nine points with just six games remaining. Edinburgh looked destined for the inglorious honour of being Club 42 and the prospect of a relegation playoff with the winner of either the Highland or Lowland leagues.

The Facts

• Ground
  • Meadowbank Stadium
• Home
  • Edinburgh City
• Away
  • Elgin City
• Competition
  • Scottish League Two
• Result
  • 0 – 3
• Scorers
  • Kyle Girvan, Ryan Sargent (2)
• Attendance
  • 292
• Cost
  • £15
• Total distance travelled
  • 10 miles
• Transport
  • Car
• My MotM
  • Jason Jarvis, there appeared to be only three Edinburgh City players who consistently cared about the outcome of the game; Mark Weir (who conceded three goals), Malik Zaid (who was creative but often beat himself), and Jarvis who gets the nod for his non-stop desire for the ball and marshalling of the team from midfield.