Co-manager Mike Lawson is appearing on 5 Live tonight just after 9 as Pat Nevin discusses the Scottish Cup action tomorrow.

Mike says -

“It’s been a long time coming. Over a period of five or six years a pipe dream finally became a reality when the Academy pitch opened at the start of this season and tomorrow we get to play our first ever Scottish Cup-tie at our new stadium. City Park was a great “Scottish” home for us and time will tell if Ainslie Park can bring the same excitement and positive results. Common sense would suggest otherwise as our new, big flat pitch excites the opposition rather than intimidates them like the old lady across the road did.

Whatever, it’s another Scottish Cup day and everyone in the home dressing room has been looking forward to it since the draw was made. The fact that one of our own now plays for Forfar and is the country’s leading scorer has definitely added spice to the occasion and his dad Dick Campbell is a well known face to all at Spartans.

Do we have a chance? Let’s put some facts on the table. Forfar are fourth in the SFL Third division and pushing for promotion. Since Dick took over they have a very good cup record and they got to the 5th Round of the Scottish last season before being knocked out by Rangers. The one thing we won’t do tomorrow is catch our visitors unprepared.

I watched Forfar beat our friends from Annan three weeks ago and they are big, strong, organised, streetwise and have one or two really talented players. On that day at Station Park Chris Templeman and Martyn Fotheringham caught my eye as did the workrate of their front two, Ross Campbell and Ian Harty.

An answer to my question above - of course we have a chance. We may not catch SFL sides by surprise anymore but our group of players have risen to the occasion in the past and they can do it again. We may have a chip on our shoulders – who knows but everyone in the home dressing room feels we have something to prove and the players will give it their all from the first whistle to the last.

The result is important but moreso is the chance to show we can compete against an SFL side. Credibility is the name of the game when the Scottish comes around and that is our main target tomorrow – the result can take care of itself.

We have no injury worries and our players are all looking forward to the game. For my part I’m normally very apprehensive on a Saturday morning before an East of Scotland game because all the pressure is on Sam, myself and our team. Tomorrow the pressure rightly shifts to the away dressing room and I can enjoy my corn flakes and watch Soccer AM without a care in the world.

If you believe that…………..”

Mike

Terry with the new girls team

Terry with a local youngster

Our website normally gets 400 visitors each day and it will probably be up a bit this week, our programme is read by at most a couple of hundred every 2nd week.  We ran a piece in the programme last week which is worth also covering on the website. Spartans Youth coach Terry Burns recently made his second trip to a township nr Durban, South Africa to help the local youngsters.   Terry and fellow Spartans Youth coach Christian Ramsay handed out loads of Spartans kit, balls, bibs and cones and took coaching sessions for the local youngsters.  Terry’s visit was really appreciated by the locals and news even reached Bishop Desmond Tutu who passed on a message “Thank you for the wonderful news about your caring and concern for those less well off than yourself and the innovative projects you propose.”
God bless you”.

Terry addressing the locals

The pitch is currently under water (Wed pm) but the forecast is for it to be dry from now through to Saturday.  Hopefully this will give the pitch plenty of time to dry out.  It dried out very well on the last two Saturdays so we’re confident that if the rain stays away the game will go ahead.

Ticket sales have been brisk, the hospitality tickets are now sold out and most of the Spartans tickets in Rows 3 to 6 have also been sold.  Please order online if you want to guarantee your seat and be able to pick up the tickets at the club before the game.

For Forfar fans 80 tickets for the North section of the stand have been set aside.  After paying to get in (£8) you can pay a £2 supplement to sit in the stand, there will be a dedicated stand queue for Forfar fans.

A bumper 40+ page programme is being produced for the first Scottish cup game at Ainslie Park, it will cost £2.  It’s been a busy week so far at the Academy as we prepare for the game including finalising the installation of the new toilets, storage space and servery in the units behind the stand.  The Argentina rugby team have also been training at the Academy this week…on the synthetic pitch!  Perhaps we should have let them train on the grass pitch so that by Saturday it could have resembled City Park on a Scottish Cup day.

Our Womens team rounded off their half season with a resounding 6 – 2 win over bottom team Kilmarnock.  We finished 3rd in the league behind Glasgow City the champions and Celtic.  Our squad developed through the season and we’re hoping to strengthen it further before the action starts again in March.

Unfortunately our Sunday team went out 1 – 0 to Carluke in the Scottish Cup.  They scored early in the second half and as we pushed forward we created enough chances to win the game but their ‘keeper and poor finishing gave them victory.  We wish them the very best of luck in the next round – and if they win again they will be very welcome to come back to the Academy Bar any time!

Mike says -

“First of all it was a great advert for East of Scotland football. It was also played at a breath taking pace which will see both teams in good stead for next weeks Scottish Cup exploits.

Were we lucky? Only in the timing and circumstances of the winning goal. Neither team deserved to lose over 90, or should I say, 95 minutes and in that respect our friends from Meadowbank were unfortunate. With 5 minutes to go I was hoping for an extra 30 minutes as City had subbed Ross Mac and then lost a centre back though injury. Anything that happens at the very end of a game can’t be rectified and I felt we had more in the tank and quality fresh legs if needed in extra time.

As for the game itself City were much better in the first half hour. We changed our shape and stabilised the ship before half-time. I thought we had the better of the second half but City nearly caught us on the quick break on a number of occasions. When you hit the post 3 times in 15 minutes you begin to think it isn’t going to be your day and despite us creating more chances than our opponents in the second 45, extra time beckoned. In stepped Cloudie and it was all over.

We didn’t fire on all cylinders yesterday but got the job done. Unlike the report last night I thought Keith McLeod was very worthy of the Man of the Match award. I thought he was outstanding throughout.”

Mike

Tomorrow sees our Womens team take on Kilmarnock on the Academy fieldTurf with a 2pm ko in their final game of this “half” season as the SWPL moves to Summer football starting agains in March.  A win would give us 3rd slot provided Hibs don’t beat champions Glasgow City.

The Sunday Amateur team have a Scottish Cup game against Carluke at City Park, again the ko is 2pm weather permitting.  After beating Redhall Star one of the favourites in the last round Coaches Kenny Cameron and Andy Colbridge will be working hard to keep the team focused.