Dunbar United - New Countess Park

Dunbar United FC

New Countess Park

Kellie Road

Dunbar

EH42 1RF

07970 109691

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Ground Number: 1145
Saturday 18th March 2023
Dunbar United 0-1 Coldstream
East Of Scotland League D1

DUNBAR UNITED FC - A BRIEF HISTORY

Dunbar United FC was established in 1925 but they spent a season as a youth side before that. Upon formation, they joined the Berkwicksshire Junior League but soon switched to the Midlothiian Junior League which they won in 1928. Further success came in 1962 when they won the Edinburgh & District League. They were long-time members of the East Region League with varying levels of success. In terms of titles, they were Division 2 champions in 1976, 1994 & 1998. They were then East Region South Division League champions in 2017. They joined the East Of Scotland League in 2018, finishing 5th in Division 1 in their first season which was good enough to win promotion to the Premier Division. After a difficult season, the club was relegated to Division 1 in 2022.

The club first entered the Scottish Cup in 2021, reaching the 2nd Round. In terms of local cups, they've had numerous successes. They won the Lees Cup in 1926, the R.L. Rae Cup in 1956, the Thistle Cup in 1976, the Thornton Shield in 1939, the Brown Cup in 1963 & 2000, the East Lothian Cup in 1929 and the East of Scotland Junior Cup in 1961, 1964 & 1990. Dunbar is a town on the North Sea coast in East Lothian in the southeast of Scotland, approximately 30 miles east of Edinburgh and 30 miles from the English border north of Berwick-upon-Tweed. It has a population of around 10,000.

MY VISIT

This was my fourth trip to a Scottish Hop and it was thanks in a fairly big way to the construction of a football pyramid. It had existed in England in some form or another since 1982 although automatic promotion from the top tier of Non-League only came five years later. Before that, it had been a closed shop and a voting system with most non-league clubs up against gaining election. Scotland had remained a closed shop up until 2014, although it is still not easy for teams to progress. The Lowland and Highland Leagues had been established a year earlier, but even after this, teams are still up against it. The Scottish League have been extremely parsimonious with their places, with just one available, perhaps because it is a 12-team league. The winners of the Lowland League and the Highland League have to play off against each other to decide who gets a chance at going up. Even then, the bottom team in the Scottish Division 2 gets a second bite at the cherry with the winner of the Lowland/Highland League playoff playing off against them to decide who gets in or stays in the league. It is a similar story further down. Personally, I'd like to see one automatic and one playoff team from each and an expansion in league sizes.

For the first hop of Saturday, it was a trip over to Dunbar. It had been a restless night's sleep for me and I woke up around 5 am. Colin awoke shortly after me and we had a chat and watched TV. A shower around 7 was most welcome and refreshed me no end. At 7.40, it was time to head down to breakfast. I filled my boots with the Cumberland sausage being the highlight. Hop organiser Chis had requested that we get ready to leave at 8.45 and so after we'd been back to the room to get our bits, we got down ten minutes early. One person was ten minutes late and got a round of applause as he got on the coach. We were at the ground an hour before kick-off and so headed to the Co-Op to stock up. I got two bags of Scottish crisps, a new cider and of course, some Irn Bru. Back to the ground and I was planning to get a pennant as I liked the badge. However, at £15 I decided to avoid it as I am quickly running out of space on my wall.

 

Dunbar United sat clear at the top of the division with a considerable lead whilst Coldstream were down in 14th, just outside of the relegation zone. Despite a heavy 4-0 defeat at Kirkaldy & Dysart in their last game, the hosts had won nine in a row before that. Coldstream had gained a credible 2-2 draw in the reverse fixture. They'd not won in seven games though, their last victory coming as they beat Dunipace 2-1 on 3rd December. The shooting from both sides was wayward, but Coldstream edged it. Dunbar had a man sent off for a late tackle. Coldstream smashed the left-hand post, unlucky not to score. Dunbar improved slightly second half but it was Coldstream that took the lead on 76 minutes. The low shot wasn't hugely powerful but the keeper didn't get enough behind it we had the opening goal. A few minutes later, Dunbar were awarded a penalty for a trip in the area but it was well saved by the Coldstream keeper. Dunbar had another man sent off, down to 9 for another innocuous lunge.

THE GROUND

NEW COUNTESS PARK is a smart ground with a lot of character. There's just one stand, a 200-capacity seated stand in black and white stripes. The food was good but the service was slow I got a great scotch pie, an Irn Bru and a kit kat for £4.70. There was a clubhouse showing the rugby outside. They had a decent souvenir stall but the merchandise was pricey in the case of pennants.