Loony Joons: Honours even in junior football after a memorable 2011/12 campaign

Jun 22 2012

Inside the wacky world of Junior football with Glaswegian hack and Johnstone Burgh goalkeeper Fraser Wilson (@Doonhamer79)

AFTER 11 months of blood, sweat and toil, thousands of matches and a whole lot more talking points the curtain has finally come down on the Junior season.

Ashfield's 1-0 Cup Winners' Cup Final victory over Premier League champions Irvine Meadow signalled the final whistle on an epic campaign and was just another shock to add to the list of upsets which kept fans of the junior game on their toes like no other level of football.

The west season was memorable for so many reasons but for me the abiding memory will be how the honours were shared out as evenly as sweeties at a kiddie's birthday party.

Irvine Meadow lifted the League and West of Scotland Cup double but in total there were 10 clubs in our region getting their mitts on some silverware across the year.

Meadow, Petershill, Ashfield, Auchinleck Talbot, Clydebank, Glenafton, Perthshire, Carluke, Maybole and, of couse, Shotts Bon Accord all had reason to celebrate at one stage or another and nobody can say fairer than that.

In Glasgow it was the year where top tier rookies Ashfield and Clydebank served notice of their new found ambitions with cup success and stunning runs of form in the league ensuring only fools will write off either next season.

It was the season where underdogs Petershill suddenly became frontrunners for an almost entire campaign, streaking away at the top of the Premier Division only to watch through their fingers as Meadow ate away at their huge lead in the final month, sneaking past them with just two games to go.

It was a campaign of pain for Pollok who came within 180 squeaky-bum minutes of a gut-wrenching relegation only to save their bacon with a play-off victory over Renfrew.

It was a year never to be forgotten for the little band of supporters at Glasgow Perthshire. Five years after staring extinction in the face the Possil men made the giant step into the Super League as they strolled, sorry, romped to the Central First Division title, going an incredible 19 games unbeaten.

Perhaps best of all, it was the season where Shotts Bon Accord proved they were the big shots, winning the Junior Cup against the goliaths of Auchinleck Talbot and storming from second bottom of the first division to clinch second place and promotion to the Premier League - all while negotiating a lung-busting run of 14 games in 30 days.

Romance in football? You just couldn't make this stuff up.

Closer to home I will remember the Burgh's season as being pretty much forgettable. If that makes sense. The highlight was a five-game winning run which gave us a little sniff of promotion before we ran out of steam in the home straight.

We weren't good enough over the course but we did enough to believe that maybe next season can be a lot better.

For now the boots are hung up, the goalie gloves washed, dried and put away and the feet put up ahead of the start of pre season trainging...

In five days time.