An intruiging set of fixtures:

Saturday 12th September

East of Scotland: League Coldstream vs Spartans at Home Park ko 2.30pm

Juniors: League Spartans vs Dunbar Utd at Ainslie Park Stadium ko 2.30pm

Amateurs: East of Scotland Cup R1 Spartans vs Callander Thistle at Ainslie Park FieldTurf ko 2pm

Sunday 13th September:

EoS 19s: League Spartans vs Civil Service Strollers at City park ko 2pm

Amateurs: League Spartans vs Currie at Ainslie Park FieldTurf ko 1pm

Womens B: League Spartans B vs Hibs B at Ainslie Park FieldTurf ko 4pm

Unfortunately Gretna have pulled out of the EoS 19s league leaving a small an uneven number of teams.  It is disappointing that Leith Athletic and Lothian Thistle/Hutcheson Vale won’t support the EoS 19s league despite having more than one 19s team in the local leagues.  Promotion of the senior game is critical when national funders and those developing new facilities are considering which clubs to support.  As we all try to develop the game in the East of Scotland we need all clubs to work together.

Enjoy the games over the weekend.

It is a bright sunny day in the Capital and as expected all games are on. Just a reminder that the Senior side travel to Coldstream in the East of Scotland Premier while the Juniors host Dunbar Utd at Ainslie Park in the South District league. Both games kick off at 2:30.

Tickets for the Junior game are £4/£2 and a reminder that Spartans season tickets are valid for this match. We hope any Spartans fans not travelling to Coldstream today will come along and cheer on the Junior side

Mike says -

“We are on the road for the next two weeks and maybe “that’s no bad thing”. Having played poorly and lost two games at the Academy already this season our away record is much more encouraging. This weekend we travel down to Coldstream followed by a return trip to the Pennypit on cup duty.

By chance Preston and Coldstream were in action on Tuesday at Prestonpans in a rearranged league game and I took the opportunity to nick down and cast an eye over both sides. Playing up the slope and into the wind in the first half Coldstream more than held their own and may have gone in all square at the interval thinking the hard work was over. Preston raised their game on the restart and went two ahead before Coldstream could draw breath.  The Streamers pushed the impressive Douglas Brydon further forward and he pulled one back to make the last fifteen minutes very interesting. Preston however held out and deserved the win on the ninety minutes played.

Coldstream paid dearly for their lapse in concentration at the start of the second half but they have a good shape and play with a lot of spirit. Peter, Sam and I are well aware that on their day they can turn us over as they did in a cup-tie at Home Park last season.

For our part we now have Alex King, Chris Smith  and Kevin Sivewright back fit and a full squad to pick from. Sam and I will bring Kevin in from the start tomorrow and one or two other changes could be made as well. The free weekend has given everyone at the club a chance to draw a veil over our stuttering first few weeks of the season and the players all start tomorrow with a clean slate.

Sam and I are accused of tinkering with the team but poor individual performances, availability of players and by taking the opposition into account there has been little chance or inclination to put the same team out two weeks in a row so far.

As I’ve said many times on this website Sam and I wouldn’t change our squad for any other in the league. Our players know that and it’s about time they turned our confidence in them into consistent performances on the park. Tomorrow would be a good time to start.”

Mike

As the weather has seriously improved since last weekend it looks like we should have a full card of fixtures this weekend.

Spartans Seniors trvael to Coldstream in the East of Scotland league. The game at Home Park kicks off at 14:30. Spartans Juniors take on Dunbar Utd in the South District league at Ainslie Park. This is the first official game for the Juniors at our new ground. Kick off is also at 14:30, tickets are £4/£2

The fans just before Tuesday's game

In this mornings closed doors game Denmark Womens Under 19 squad beat Scotland 4 – 0 on the FieldTurf.  The game was closer than the score suggests but the Danes looked very dangerous on the break and took their chances.

We all have great memories from Tuesday night’s game and Ian Mackay’s report below is a great summary.

“A little bit of history was created on Tuesday, September 8, when Spartans Community Football Academy in Ainslie Park in Edinburgh hosted its first international football match. All the style and sense of occasion prevailed throughout the night at the Scotland Girls v Denmark Under-19 Challenge Match. It was a terrific game of quality football with outstanding individual skills on show from the players, top-class team work and great technical ability and five goals to enjoy in a game that ended in a 3-2 win for Scotland! The 500-seater stand was almost full and lots of other spectators were in other parts of the beautiful stadium pitch at Ainslie Park, the UEFA flag was flying along with the Denmark and Scottish flags.
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Scotland woman’s U19 team secured victory over Demark tonight in the first international game to be held at Ainslie Park. Scotland took the lead in the first half with a goal from Aberdeen Striker, Chloe Fitzpatrick. A quick double after half time from Penilla Harmer gave Denmark the lead before Celtic’s Rebecca Dempster scored two goals in 5 minutes to put Scotland back in front.

A Crowd of over 583 were present on a rainy wet September night, however the weather couldn’t damped the Scottish spirits as they secured an impressive victory.

The Scotland vs Denmark U19 Womens game at the Academy on the grass stadium pitch tonight is definitely on.  The pitch is currently playable and we have on loan equipment from the Grange, the home of Scottish cricket, if we need it to take away surface water.  The ko is 7.30pm.