This morning Mike said -

“I’m no historian but I think tomorrow is the first ever league meeting between Spartans and Tynecastle. Keith Summers, Murray Balloch and their players deserve our upmost respect as last season they won the most competitive East of Scotland First Division there has ever been. To come out well on top of more fancied sides like Gretna, Stirling Uni, Craigroyston and Civil Service Strollers says everything about the strides the club from Fernieside have made over the last couple of seasons.

For our part we have gone from bottom of the Premier League to top of the pile in three weeks. As defending champions we are there to be shot at but tomorrow Tynecastle have the added incentive of trying to beat the league leaders and current league champions.

How will our players handle that pressure? Our Scottish Cup exploits would suggest that we like to wear the mantle of underdog and last season we sat in behind Dalbeattie for most of the season letting them take all the pressure. Whatever happens tomorrow there is a long way to go between now and next May and I’m sure there will be many twists and turns in the championship race.

In selecting our team Sam and I are without David Etale as he is in London playing for his works side (the Army) but welcome back Alex King and new boy Kevin Sivewright to the squad. Alex will start and we hope Kevin will take part at some stage in the game.  Chris Smith has been undergoing tests in hospital for a stomach complaint and we are not sure as yet of his availability.

In our two games this week against Preston and Edinburgh Uni we have played well for spells but struggled at other times in both games. Tomorrow Sam and I are looking for a more consistent performance from the team over the full ninety minutes.”

The ko is 2.30 and admission is £5 and £3.  Programmes will be £1.

David - will be missed by his fan club

Di (left), opening goal

We drew 2 – 2 tonight at home to Hibs in league action.  Hibs opened the scoring just before half time from the penalty spot after an even first half.

In the second half Hibs had most of the play for the first 20 minutes but we then put in a tremendous spell.  Di Barry equalised from close range before we went ahead.  An inswinging Mollie  McKean was headed into her own net by a Hibs defender and we looked in control.  Player/Coach Shelley Kerr unfortunately picked up a bad knock with five minutes to go and just after she went off Hibs capitalised when a long ball was fired home by McBride.

A crowd of just over 100 enjoyed the action under the Ainslie Park lights.

In a draw made by Phil Johnson  (occasional EUAFC midfield player), his wife Julienne and Mark Burns at Mark’s testimonial the winners were:

April:

1st Bob Dryburgh £258

2nd Ian Morton £155

3rd Graham McCall £104

May:

1st Iain Kirkpatrick £262

2nd A Robertson £158

3rd George Peebles £105

June:

1st Alastair Arnott £264

2nd Andy Nixon £159

3rd John Whitelock £106

Mike said this morning

Tomorrow evening at the Academy our Womens team get their first chance to play on the grass stadium pitch.  The league game against local rival Hibs kicks off at 7.30pm.  Admission is £3, Spartans season tickets are valid and Under 16′s are free.

After trailing at half time we came back to beat Edinburgh Uni 3 – 1 in the league at Peffermill tonight.  There were four changes in the starting line up after Saturday, Chris Flockhart came back alongside Danny O’Donnel, Omar Kader and Donal Henretty. 

The Uni had a flavour of Spartans Old Boys in it with both Steve Oliver and Phil Johnson appearing, as well as Neil Irvine.  We opened well and Ollie pulled off a  couple of great saves as we played with pace and power.  Midway through the half however the Uni scored when Dick nodded home a throw in.  The Uni then had the better of the play until half time and were unlucky not to go ahead when a long free kick sailed into the net with the linesman spotting an offside somewhere.

In the second half we did up the pace again and after a collision between Ollie and Paul Thomson, Gavin Malin stroked the ball home from the edge of the box.   We were in control of the game with the seond coming from a brilliant David Etale free kick.  The third was another great strike, this time from Robbie Manson.   In a physical encounter Gavin Malin picked up a yellow card along with a couple of the Uni defenders.  

Team: Flockhart, O’Donnel, Fowlie (Archibald 64), Gerrard, McKibben, Malin, McAuley (Etale 64), Manson, Henretty, McLeod (Hoskins 76), Kader Sub not used: King

Mike says

“Tomorrow we travel to Peffermill to play our rearranged league game against Edinburgh University. What with the university term still being a bit off, Sammy has his work cut out early season trying to put a team together. The new intake will no doubt bring in fresh talent but Sammy also has to deal with losing players when they graduate at the end of a season as with Jamie Redman who is now with Arbroath. I bumped into Jamie on Saturday evening (not in some drinking establishment but Sainsbury’s) and although he is carrying an injury he is enjoying life in the SFL.

Back to the Uni and Sam and I know whatever team Sammy puts out will be organised and competitive. Sammy is a master of the mind games and he’ll use any adversity as motivation to rise up and beat the big, bad Spartans. Seriously, the Uni beat Preston away from home last mid-week and that is all Sammy has to remind them to give them confidence and all Sam and I need remind our lot to emphasis how hard an evening we are in for.

Having no game Saturday will give the students the advantage of being fresher than ourselves and Sam and I will once again change things around a bit. Two or three will come in from the team which started at Preston and Alex King will make his first official appearance of the season on the bench. “Tinker ye not” Frankie (or SR) might say but Sam and myself want to get the best out of all our first team squad and also to keep them all match fit. The players know each others game and the various systems we set out so changing things around should never be used as an excuse. We have good intelligent players and Mike and Eric work with them on systems and set-ups religiously at training.

Anyway we hope we don’t need any excuses tomorrow as we strive to climb the league table and put pressure on the leaders.”