Christmas parties are mad
Glencai rn hit West Championship leaders Benburb for six on their own patch to close the gap at the top to only one point.
Glens took the lead in the 19th minute as Del Esplin drilled home. The lead was doubled in identical fashion by Esplin who then hit a post.
Gary Smith headed in the third before the striker calmly rounded the keeper to score the fourth.
Smith made it a treble from the penalty spot as defender Ryan Livingston was sent off then Esplin also completed his hattrick with a late spot-kick.
my house I looked in the mirror and saw I’d tried to apply my lipstick earlier in the night and it was smudged all across my face. I’ve managed to get the hang of it now as practice makes perfect.
It’s just one story in a career of Christmas nights out as a footballer and my Livingston squad are out on theirs shortly so I have a few cautionary tales for them.
One memorable festive night out when I was with Norwich stands out. Each player had to pick what character they had to dress up as by pulling names out of a hat.
Brian was to be a cowboy. When he turned up on the day he hadn’t realised that the chaps had to be worn over a pair of jeans or trousers.
He had nothing on under them. There he was with the spurs, belt, cowboy hat and a six-shooter looking for a l l the world l ike a ma le stripper. He couldn’t understand what everyone was laughing at, it was surreal.
One of the boys was sent to get him a pair of trousers but Brian was having none of it and sat as he was during lunch which thankfully was held in an upstairs private dining area of the restaurant.
We moved on to a few pubs and some public disgrace while Craig Fleming kept the peace as Batman and our keeper Paul Crichton was getting a bit carried away as he was dressed as The Joker.
We were walking down the Prince of Wales Road, one of the big ones in Norwich, and Batman was chasing The Joker and trying to tie him to a lamppost.
Paul was having none of it and jumped on top of a car to try to evade his arch enemy. It was harmless fun and we thought nothing more of it until we arrived for training a few days later and our chief executive walked into our dressing room.
He said: “Right, who wants to own up?”
Now the party had been a few days earlier and it was a bit late to get back into the theme but the chief executive had now become The Riddler.
I was baffled. There had been no problems , everyone had got home OK and there had been no issues. He said: “Which one of you lot was car surfing down the Prince of Wales Road dressed as The Joker?” Nobody was going to own up but he produced CCTV pictures of Batman chasing The Joker down the street and there was Paul standing on top of some poor guy’s car. He owned up and paid a fine as well as forking out for the damage to the car. It just shows that when drink becomes involved with a group of men in fancy dress problems can arise. It’s a message I’ve put across to my players at Livingston. They deserve their night out but they’ve been told to behave and to leave their phones at home as Social Media can get you into t rouble . Don’t get into arguments and enjoy yourselves, that’s the message. Remember alcohol isn’t your friend. Some bigger clubs head abroad and hope it’s a case of out of sight, out of mind but it’s a chance to let your hair down and I loved them. It was a chance to be beautiful for a night.