Archive for July, 2008
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Friday, July 11th, 2008 The latest news for the 3rd XI will be posted here. Check back on a regular basis for updates.Cup draws
Thursday, July 10th, 2008
Spartans have been drawn away to Coldstream in the second round of the Image Printers East Scotland Qualifying Cup after being given a bye in the first round. In the King Cup first round, Spartans will host Easthouses Lily, and have avoided a preliminary round tie in the SFA South Region Challenge Cup.
The cup draws were held at last night’s East of Scotland Football League and FA meeting, where member clubs approved a membership application from a new Gretna club. The club has been admitted to the EoS League and FA with immediate effect and will play in the First Division this season.
Following Annan Athetic’s departure to the Scotish Football League, EoS League member clubs voted to reinstate relegated Selkirk into the Premier Division. The addition of Gretna means there will be two divisions of 12 teams this season.
New EoS fixture secretary Kenneth McLean has promised to publish a full season’s fixture list early next week. The new season kicks off on Saturday 9 August.
Falkirk U-19 1, Spartans 3
Thursday, July 10th, 2008 Spartans kicked off pre-season with a 3-1 win away to Falkirk Under-19s at Stirling University last night.Struan Preston put the visitors ahead from an Omar Kader cross after 12 minutes and Robbie Manson, on his debut, made it two with a 25-yard volley in the 20th minute. Five minutes later Nicky Walker also scored on his debut, the striker converting from the penalty spot after being brought down in the box. Falkirk pulled a goal back just before half time.
Mike Lawson, the Spartans co-manager, said: “I had to shuffle the pack and played one or two in strange positions, but it was a worthwhile exercise and we played very well indeed.”
Spartans’ next pre-season match is against East Fife at Bayview on Saturday.
Spartans: Flockhart; O’Donnell, Gerrard, Archibald, Henretty; Kader, King (Young 45), Manson, Noon (Campbell 61); Walker (Noon 75), Preston (Devlin 61).
Match report and pictures on official Falkirk FC website:
http://www.falkirkfc.co.uk/club-news/falkirk-xi-v-spartans.html
East Fife Game Moved
Tuesday, July 8th, 2008 The pre-season friendly on Saturday 12th July against East Fife will now take place at Bayview after the game was switched from City Park.Kickoff is at 2pm.
Scottish Cup dates
Sunday, July 6th, 2008 The Scottish Football Association has announced the following dates for the 2008/09 Scottish Cup:Round 1 Saturday, 27th September, 2008
Round 2 Saturday, 25th October, 2008
Round 3 Saturday, 29th November, 2008
Round 4 Saturday, 10th January, 2009
Round 5 Saturday, 7th February, 2009
Round 6 Saturday, 7th March, 2009
Semi Finals Saturday/Sunday, 25th & 26th April, 2009
Edinburgh Evening News - 4th July 2008
Friday, July 4th, 2008 Spartans chief executive Craig Graham insisted today that his club has still got plenty to look forward to – despite missing out on a place in the Scottish Football League.But he admitted that the Edinburgh outfit may have been victims of their own success after they, along with fellow Lothians sides Edinburgh City and Preston Athletic, lost out to Annan Athletic in their bid to replace Gretna in the SFL.
Spartans had been one of the favourites to make the step up to the Third Division after successful Scottish Cup runs in recent seasons and a mountain of backing and publicity, however, they dropped out of the race after the second round after amassing just six votes.
With a minimum of 15 votes required for the successful club, the vote had to be taken three times before Annan were declared the winners.
In the final round, they received 17 votes with Cove Rangers their nearest challengers with 12 votes. While Graham was quick to congratulate the successful Borders outfit, Graham believes there are many positives on the horizon for Spartans.
He said: “Annan is a great club with some great people in it, but obviously we are disappointed because we felt that we put a lot of hard work in to our application and to the club in general.
“As far as the club goes, we have got a fantastic amount still to look forward to. Our Academy opens in mid-September or maybe even earlier.
“The Academy is about the community, it’s about the businesses and the students who will use it, as well as the players and the schoolkids.
“Obviously yesterday’s decision was a blow for us, but we know that there are a lot of positives to have come out of this for us as well.
“With a bit of luck we may even be playing against some of these SFL clubs in the not-too-distant future again in the Scottish Cup and that will maybe give us a little bit of extra motivation into the bargain.”
And Graham added: “One of the main parts of our presentation was the fact that there is currently no SFL club in the Edinburgh area and Edinburgh is a massive market.
“Trying to get into the minds of the 29 representatives at the meeting though, is very, very difficult.
“We were at a slight disadvantage because our ground isn’t quite ready and I think that we maybe upset a few of them because our presentation was quite trendy, visionary and modern and I know that didn’t go down too well with some of them.
“We showed the work that we have been doing with the local community and with schoolchildren who have dropped out of school and we helped them pull through using football. Scotland is an interesting place. If people are successful, drive themselves forward and show a bit of initiative, half of the population congratulate them and pat them on the back – and indeed are inspired by them.
“Unfortunately, the other half ask how you managed to do it and say that it must just have landed in your lap and to a certain extent are maybe a bit jealous of it.
“We very much got mixed reactions this week but we’ve worked hard to get to where we are and we will keep going in that same direction. We’re about the kids, about the local community and the schools and we will carry on doing that, whether we are in the SFL or not.”
Spartans miss out on place in SFL
Thursday, July 3rd, 2008
Spartans have failed in a bid to join the Scottish Football League after Annan Athletic won today’s vote at Hampden.
A minimum of 15 votes were required to win the election and gain entry to the Third Division, and three rounds of voting were needed at the special general meeting before Annan’s place was confirmed. Annan polled 17 votes in the final round, with Cove Rangers their closest challengers on 12 votes.
Spartans were third overall, but dropped out of the running after the second ballot with six votes. Spartans received five votes in the first round, after which Edinburgh City and Preston Athletic dropped out.
Annan Athletic, Cove Rangers, Spartans, Edinburgh City and Preston Athletic and Cove Rangers had applied to take the place left vacant by Gretna, who went out of business after being relegated from the Scottish Premier League.
Craig Graham, the Spartans chairman, said: “Obviously we are disappointed. We will never find out why we only got five votes in the first ballot, but there’s nothing we can do. We gave it our best shot, but we came up short.
“Spartans would like to congratulate Annan Athletic and wish them all the best in the Scottish Football League. Annan are a strong, well-organised and forward-thinking club and I am sure they will make a positive contribution to the SFL. One day, we hope to join them.
“There is still a lot to look forward to at Spartans. The Spartans Community Football Academy at Ainslie Park will be ready by the end of September; we have bolstered our first-team squad and hope to challenge for the East of Scotland League title; we have a new reserve team coaching set-up; we will be fielding a ladies team in the Scottish Women’s Premier League for the first time; and we will continue to develop and expand our youth system and work with the local community in north Edinburgh.”
Lamb appointed reserve team coach
Tuesday, July 1st, 2008 Spartans are delighted to announce that Mark Lamb has been appointed reserve team coach. He joins the club from Peebles along with his assistant, Stuart Robertson.Mark and Stuart took Peebles up to the East of Scotland League Premier Division last season after finishing second in the First Division. Mark played for Peebles for many years and is now a qualified coach. Stuart is very experienced in East of Scotland football having managed home town team Vale of Leithen three times. He has also managed Kelso United, Coldstream, Hawick Royal Albert and Gala Fairydean.
Craig Graham, the Spartans chairman, said: “Mark has his B Licence and continues to work on further badges so I’m sure he will make the same positive impact as made by Mike Irving when he joined last season. This is a really positive move for the club, irrespective of which league we will play in this season.”
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