Queen's Park 2 Raith Rovers 1; my Scottish groundhopping adventures are done...
And
so, a day I’d often thought about but had never really expected to happen
finally came to pass. On Saturday 8th November 2025, I
completed my series of visits to every single SPFL ground, with a revisit of
the oldest Scottish club Queen’s Park, at their restored Lesser Hampden home,
in the shadow of the famous National Stadium, for the visit of Raith Rovers, in
the company of Ben. Obviously, the trip had an element of doubt in the week
leading up to it. A landslip between Oxenholme and Penrith on the Monday
previous had caused all manner of disruption on the West Coast main line, so
I’d rebooked our trip an hour earlier, as I like to err on the side of caution.
In the event, everything ran incredibly smoothly, which meant we had an hour to
spare in Carlisle, using it sensibly by getting a substantial bacon roll from a
local café. Nice it was too.
The stiflingly hot Avanti train to Glasgow Central gave us a hassle-free ride, as did the connection on the Neilston circle to Mount Florida, which meant we arrived slightly before the turnstiles opened at 2pm. I’ve been to the National Stadium on several occasions, generally to see Hibs lose, but I did catch a Queen’s Park home game against Cowdenbeath in February 2020. With only 470 inside the ground, the vast swathes on empty seats and echoes of the players shouts made it an eerie experience, akin to watching Newcastle Reserves at SJP or Anderlecht Futures against RWDM at the King Baudoin Stadium in Brussels last year. Lesser Hampden, despite being open at both ends, as seems to be the wont in many if not all recently built or redeveloped Scottish grounds, is a far more sensible venue for Queen’s Park, even after the Spiders eschewed their 150-year tradition of amateurism and embraced the professional game. Indeed, there were 876 watching today, in a supposed capacity of 977.
We
entered from the home turnstile and took the very last two seats in the home
end, that were only across the aisle from where the raucous, rowdy and wildly
profane away fans were housed in the final two blocks, enjoying a quality steak
pie and Bovril lunch. The seats had plenty of leg room and
afforded a perfect view of proceedings. There is another small stand opposite,
but it appears to be a space reserved for dignitaries. Shame, because if we’d
sat on that side, we wouldn’t have been blinded by the low sun setting in the
first half. Although that misfortune wasn’t of any particular problem as the
football on display was dire in the most part. Raith were the more direct, but
failed to carve out any presentable opportunities, while Queen’s Park played a
cautious possession-based game, where any risky attacking ball was ignored, in
favour of retaining possession at all costs.
The best player on the pitch was Queen’s attacker Josh Fowler, and his two goals won the game for the home side. His first was courtesy of woeful miscommunication in the Raith defence, when he collected a loose ball and rammed home a low 20-yard finish after 14 minutes. It was a quality finish, but the lead wasn’t to last long as Darragh O'Connor’s right footed shot from the left side of the six-yard box into the top left corner brought the teams level on 22 minutes. This is how it stayed until the break, which cheered me considerably as it meant I’d done every ground and not seen a single goalless draw.
After the break, Raith tried to up the ante and were twice denied by miraculous saves from the home keeper, Calum Ferrie, who is English, interestingly enough. He made his name with a penalty save at Ibrox last year, when Queen’s Park beat Glasgow’s newest club Sevco in the Scottish Cup. Mind he also let in 5 at Partick Thistle the week before today, so it isn’t all plain sailing. However, his important intervention gave the Spiders renewed hope and they grabbed all 3 points with another goal from Fowler on 78 minutes. He received the ball wide right in the box, checked, evaded a challenge and curled a delicious effort in off the post. There would be no dancing in the streets of Raith that night. The result moved Queen’s Park out of the relegation play-off place and up to 8th, while the visitors stay 6th.
If
I were asked which parts of Scotland are the best (or worst) at swearing, I’d
undoubtedly call a dead heat between Ayrshire and Lanarkshire, but the Kingdom
of Fife run the two former coalmining heartlands in the west very close.
Indeed, one tall young chap, sat directly to my right, spent all afternoon
issuing semi-coherent volleys of the language of the snooker hall in the
direction of officials, players and other spectators for the entire contest.
The fact Queen’s Park won 2-1 didn’t lighten his mood, though I suspect if
Raith had replicated their famous win over Celtic in the 1994 League Cup final
in the adjoining arena, he still wouldn’t have been satisfied.
As we made our way through grumbling Fifers to Mount Florida, I realised just how thirsty I was, after the pie and Bovril, so it was just as well Ben and I were heading only 2 stops to Queen’s Park (ironically), to visit a pub we’d both had our eyes on for ages; Koelschip Yard, which is an absolute craft ale paradise. Without overstating things, the Kriek on tap was the finest I’ve tasted. We had a few scoops, met the biggest (and friendliest) dog in the world and I bought a £50 carry-out from the brilliant Wee Beer Shop opposite. An off licence so good and so friendly, I messaged the owner Niall on Insta the next day and got put on the mailing list. I tell you that’s where I’m getting my Christmas Cantillon and Kernel supplies from this year. Just a shame it’s the other side of the city from where we’re going to see My Bloody Valentine in a couple of weeks.
As we were travelling back via Edinburgh, we got an Uber to Queen’s Street, where we saw the drunkest man in the world trying to buy 2 coffees on his card from Greggs, before running slap bang into Stephen from The Pastels, on his way home from a day’s work at Monorail no doubt. We shook hands and agreed to try and meet up at My Bloody Valentine, before we were away. On that train, I got talking to Keith a Queen of the South fan who’d been to the musical Hamilton with his missus that afternoon (though I’d presume he'd prefer to have been at Hamilton Accies instead) and had remarkably been at Spennymoor 0 Barrow 2 in the FA Cup the week before. After that, the timing of the train from Waverley was too tight to allow us a pint in Brew Dog, so we took our place with many well-served Scottish rugby fans who’d been to Murrayfield for the New Zealand game. We got back to Central on time, had an unnecessary last one in The Wobbly Duck and caught the last bus home. A splendid, splendid day and a fitting way to end my Scottish odyssey.
I must admit to having a feeling of sadness accompanying the sense of accomplishment. No longer will I look to fixtures long in the future, check travel logistics and anticipate the journey. I’ve never believed it is better to travel than arrive, but my final destination has been reached with a heavy heart. What is my next bucket list challenge? Let me think on that one…
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