There’s a post on the forum about our most famous supporters….we just received an email from the up and coming Edinburgh band Saint Judes Infirmary.  They are all football fans but their all allegiances never allowed them them cheer on the same team….until now.  Inspired by a trip to Prague they discovered FK Bohemians Prague.  It was a team fans of both Slavia and Sparta fans would stand shoulder to shoulder and cheer on.  They thought there must be more teams like this back home, a team that they could get behind passionately without it turning nasty.
They discovered The Spartans.
At the same time they were writing a song called Little Sparta, part inspired by the art exhibition by Ian Hamilton Findlay, partly by the tarnished grandeur of old Edina and somewhat by broken hearts.
The thoughts of the football club and the song became entwined as they set about recording it.   The song is about to be released and will be played at the Cabaret Voltaire, with a guest dj spot from Ian Rankin on Thursday 22nd : Doors 7pm.  It is free free entry with a drinks promotion.
The band might well become our most famous supporters, this is the link from the evening news story :

http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/topstories/Rankin–writes-a-new.4846137.jp

They have sent through a copy of the song to play on match day…obviously when we get to Ainslie Park!  They aren’t looking for favours, in their words they “just wanted to complete the circle by handing back a bit of our inspiration.”

www.saintjudesinfirmary.com

The 19s lost 6 – 3 to Edinburgh City in the League cup today.  Neil Cameron, Scott McDonald and Steven Philp scoring the goals.  We’ve gone through to the semi finals but it will be tough to beat City.  They have won all their domestic games this season and are a really good team.

The 1st XI crashed out of the King Cup after missing chances at home to Easthouses.  We dominated the first half but the Easthouses ‘keeper had several tremendous saves…as the ref said to him at the end of the game…”make sure you buy a lottery ticket tonight”!  Gavin hit the post then put one wide with the goal gaping.  Nicky and Cloudie both missed “one on one’s” but it wasnt to be.  We started the second half well and the keeper saved again from Keith before a long ball caught us out.  Chris missed his kick and the Easthouses striker tapped into the net.  Worse was to follow in the 63rd minute when Easthouses scored again when we looked flat footed from another through ball.  We didn’t created much after that but were given a golden opportunity with eight minutes left.  Donal was fouled but from the spot Keith’s effort was saved.  We continued to drive forward but it was Easthouses who looked more like scoring on the break.

Team: Flockhart, Archibald, Gerrard (Kader 74), O’Donnel, Fowlie, Malin, King (Devlin 74), Manson, McLeod, Walker, Henretty Subs not used: Hair, Preston, Hoskins

The 2nd XI won a hard fought East of Scotland Round 3 game at Plean  by one goal to nil.  Michael Moffat driving home from outside the box in the 78th minute.

Michael Moffat

The 3rd XI won their Logan Cup tie against Heriot Watt Uni 2nd XI 5 – 2 after extra time.  Goals came from Steve Malin (2), Finlay Clark (2) and Garth Fitzsimons.  It was 1 – 1 after 90 minutes before we eventually started taking the chances.

Steve Malin

The pitch is soft but passed an early morning inspection, ko 1.30pm

Looking for more celebrations today

The 1st XI are back in domestic action with a King Cup game against Easthouses at City Park tomorrow, ko 1.30pm  Coach Mike Irving is looking forward to the game “the boys have been upbeat in training this week and we will need to be focused tomorrow to get a result.  Easthouses were tough opponenets when we played them just before Christmas.  Although we won comfortably in the end they gave us some worrying moments in the first half.  We were delighted with our second half performance last week but we need to do more with set pieces.  Our delivery is good but we need to make better runs and be more threatening.”

Will the Easthouses goalie look so unhappy tomorrow

Struan Preston and Sam Woods have both trained twice this week and return to the squad.   Omar Kader picked up a knock playing for Heriot Watt Uni on Wednesday and ‘skipper Stewart Fowlie’s back is still troublesome.  International clearance still hasn’t come through yet for David Etale.  Youngsters Ewan Smart and Brad Snodgrass drop back into the 19s squad for their game on Sunday.  The squad for tomorrow: Flockhart, Archibald, Gerrard, Fowlie, Hoskins, Manson, Devlin, Woods, Preston, King, Malin, O’Donnel, Walker, McLeod, Hair, Henretty, Kader

On the back of last Saturday’s fantastic travelling support we’re hoping for another big following tomorrow.  Supporters are welcome in the bar at the Academy before and after the game.

will the one shoe song come out for Easthouses?

The 2nd XI have  an East of Scotland game away to Plean and coach Mark Lamb is hoping to welcome back Adam Perry and David Paterek to his squad.

The 3rd XI have a Logan Cup game against Heriot Watt 2nd XI at the Academy with a 2pm kick off.