The Juniors are meant to be hosting Broxburn in a Fife and Lothians cup game but tonight the pitch at Ainslie Park was frozen in parts with a light covering of snow.  There will be a pitch inspection  between 9 and 10 but its not looking good.  If the game is off the Juniors and Seniors will be on the FieldTurf at 12.30. 

The Amateurs are supposed to be heading through to play Whitburn but again the fixture is likely to fall to the weather.

The website will be updated in the morning when the pitches have been inspected.

Mike says

“It goes without saying that Sam and I are unhappy that a game between two Edinburgh sides has been put off 24 hours before the kick-off.  Jimmy Murray spoke to Alastair Wilkie earlier today and told him we’d prefer to wait until tomorrow morning before a referee was brought in to inspect the pitch and that Sam and I would like to be present.  It appears that request has been ignored.

I don’t know the rules of the Association but I’ll be getting the club to write a letter asking for clarification on the procedures which are meant to be followed in such circumstances. 

It’s a very cold day and I know that it’s 90% certain that Fernieside will be unplayable tomorrow but had it been the Academy we would have given the weather every chance to ease. At Spartans we make every effort to get games played as scheduled but it is a practise which is not always adhered to across East of Scotland football and our league is all the poorer for it.

We will now train or maybe play our Junior side at the Academy on the field turf at 12.00 tomorrow”  

Mike

Mike says -

“First and foremost we all want the game to go ahead. It doesn’t look too promising this morning but too many times games are put off prematurely and a change in the weather ends up with a playable park and the players elsewhere.

We (at Spartans) are happy to turn up for any game and await a decision by the match official but understand in certain circumstances an early inspection allows teams to pursue alternative training arrangements. For now we hope for a snow free day and a slight increase in the temperature outside.

Tynecastle caught us cold at the Academy on  29th August. They deservedly beat us that day and looked a good side as they found their feet in the “higher” league.  They currently sit fourth in the table with games in hand on those around them and look set for a very good first season upstairs.

That day at the Academy their energy and application matched by a playing style which passed the ball on the ground at pace, impressed me greatly. We’ll have to be at the very top of our game to take anything away from Fernieside tomorrow.  

For our part Danny O’Donnell is unfit, Stewart Fowlie is struggling and Jorge Vinelli tore knee ligaments at training last night and will go home to Spain for Christmas in crutches. Chris Smith is still recovering from a groin strain so we are once again down to the bare bones.

On the plus side Dean Hoskins should be available as will Luke Cassidy and Phil McKibben.

As I’ve said Tynecastle are a very good side but then again so are we and despite losing two of our last three games we played well against both Forfar and the Vale. Our players have to “keep the faith” and continue to play the fast passing games which suits their style and our cause.

Winning a league title is no easy matter and retaining it is even harder. That is our aim and to do that we must be at our best tomorrow and get a positive result.

As I say at the top we are all hoping for a break in the weather and are looking forward to a good game of football.”

Mike

Mike says -

“Everyone in the home dressing room is still getting over the disappointment of losing on Saturday. Our start to games, especially at the Academy where teams are lifted by the new surroundings and the quality of our set pieces were discussed before training last night. There were a few nodding heads and no words of disagreement so there appears to be a consensus that although we played well against the Vale and were unlucky on the day there are still things we can work on.  

 I couldn’t work on anything last night as I’ve been on my back with the flu since Sunday and Sam appears to be feeling similarly low. He showed face then headed home to bed as I wrapped up warm and watched proceedings from a distance. Danny looks like he’ll be out until January at the earliest and Stewart may take as long to return to first team action. On the plus side Deano was able to train last night and Luke is available for selection this weekend at Fernieside.

We also notice that our January fixtures have altered yet again with the Whitehill game being put back a week and we now play Preston at the Academy on 9th January. First things first and we have Tynecastle away this weekend on league business. The home side have asked for a slightly earlier kick off so it’s a 1.30 start for those who are thinking of give Christmas shopping a miss and watching some football.

A good choice I’d say.”

Mike

Jim "The Wheel" Martin

Jim’s funeral is on Monday 21st December at Warriston with an 11am kick off.  Everyone is welcome.  After the service everyone is also invited along to the Academy to meet up and share all their stories about Jim and indulge with a glass of chilled Pinot Grigio.

Thanks from the club for all the messages in appreciation of Jim and all that he did.  We’ll do a tribute to Jim on the website next Monday.

In the EoS 19s league cup we went down 3 – 1 to Civil Service Strollers, Andrew Sinclair scoring the goal.

In the Sunday Amateur League we beat the top team Redhall Star 5 – 0 in the league, goals from Dean Shanks 3, Stephen Hamilton and Phil Johnson.  After the minute’s silence for Jim the team played their best game of the season.  This win puts us second equal in the league although we have played a couple more games.  A great turnaround after a few early season defeats.

Mike says -

“The sight of David cheered us all up before the game and the sad news about Jim Martin brought a reality check to our “hard done by” feelings after it.

David is on the mend but it will be a slow process. He rightly got a great ovation when he limped into the dressing room and his return home has given everyone a lift.

Wheelie Jim as Craig said last night, did a lot of unselfish work for the club. He saved us a fortune in legal fees and was generous to a fault. He was as bright as a button, a master of the keyboard and although Jim and I had our run-ins, there was a mutual respect between us. He’ll be sadly missed by all at the club and by many on the P&B Forums.

I was really down after the defeats to Whitehill and Tynecastle earlier in the season. We played poorly in both games and deserved what we got. I wasn’t down after our defeat to Forfar in the Scottish and I wasn’t down after the game yesterday until I heard the sad news about Jim.

The Vale are a good side, a very good side and they like to get the ball down and pass it around at pace. They started more brightly than us and caused us problems in the wide areas early on. For more than an hour though we dominated possession and dominated the game. We passed the ball well and created enough chances to win the game in 90 minutes far less take the game into extra time.

The Vale defended valiantly and on the day got the rub of the green. They would argue the effort and fighting qualities they showed deserved the result and who am I to disagree. I only know our players were gutted as they know they should have and could have been looking forward to a final.

In Aaron Somerville the Vale have unearthed a genuine quality striker. When I’m asked at work tomorrow “what happened” I’ll say this young lad hit a side foot volley with his favoured left foot from the edge of the box through a crowded box into the top left hand corner. He then controlled the ball and hit one with his “swinger” into the right hand corner from 30 yards. I’ve only seen him twice so “swinger” may be a bit cruel but he’s scoring goals for fun and must have a real chance of stepping upstairs.

There were post mortems in the pub last night on the lines of “If Stewart had be there to do this – if Danny had been there to do that – if we had Deano’s left peg etc, etc.” I was having none of it. As we watched Man U dominate a game they weren’t going to win I was happy with the team we put out and happy with their performance for the last hour and more. They all got pass marks and they all work as hard as they could.

Sometimes in football it’s just not meant to be. Last week we scored six goals in under fifteen second half minutes against our biggest city rival. As they were sailing in from everywhere I was thinking “I wonder if we should be saving one or two of these for next week?”.  How right I was.”

Mike