Helicopter Saturday…but they wont need the helicopter

Posted on Friday, May 22nd, 2009

We’re all set for tomorrow’s shoot-out.  The supporters bus is full and the convoy leaves at 10.45 from the Academy. 

Co-manager Mike Lawson looks ahead “”One league Saturday left and the title is still up for grabs. Kenny McLean, take a bow. A game which was meant to be played on 16th August last year will finally take place tomorrow so there’s a bit of luck attached to it as well for our fixture secretary.

It takes ten months to complete a league campaign but tomorrow the winning of the EOS Premier league title boils down to ninety minutes of football. We are meant to be in the driving seat but at Spartans we are well aware that anything can happen in football and our players are preparing accordingly.

In many respects the pressure is off Dalbeattie as they can just go out and have a go. Their preparation will be all about going forward, being positive, taking the game to us and seeing what happens if they can nick a goal. Sam and I have been trying to instil that same attitude in our players. To try to protect what we have would be folly and we will set the team out to try to win a game of football. Like every team we want to finish our season on a high and we can only do that by beating a very good side on their own ground.

Like Dalbeattie we will have influential players missing tomorrow. Our two top scorers Keith McLeod and Nicky Walker are unavailable and our third main striker at the start of the season, Struan Preston, was injured against Edinburgh City last Saturday and is out. David Etale will come into the side and we can also call on Donal Henretty, Gavin Malin, Daryl Devlin and Omar Kader to play up front if needed.

There are also doubts about the availability of a regular member of our defensive line and we’ll leave the final team selection until he has a fitness test at the ground. Sam and I are happy with the depth of quality in our squad but tomorrow we’ll need to dip into our Under 19 pool to complete the players stripped for action.

We are all looking forward to playing in front of a large crown in what is a winner take all situation. Bring it on.”