Mike says -

“This week Sam and I have been telling the players  not to take their collective eyes off the ball and that will be repeated several times before the game at Riccarton tomorrow. As Whitehill start to play their outstanding league games and a popular Forum has a thread entitled “The Greatest chase in history” it would be easy for our lot to spend too much time watching the progress of the Rosewell club and forget about the job at hand. Our final league game at Ferguson Park will take care of itself but first and foremost we have to concentrate on a very difficult game against Heriot-Watt.

Only two teams have scored three goals against us in our 29 competitive games so far this season and guess who they are? Yes you have it, Heriot-Watt and our friends from Rosewell. After a slow start as Michael Renwick got to know his players and more importantly they started to return from the long summer break students seem to enjoy, Heriot-Watt went on a long successful run which saw them challenge at the top of the league. They faltered slightly as the bad weather set in but can boast a 5-1 home victory over Preston in their recent league history.

Heriot-Watt have players who can hurt any side with the left foot of Aaron James as good as any in the league. They are driven on in midfield by the industrious Simon Ferrie while Lars Berger up front is maturing into the perfect target man. The University boys definitely know where the goals are and will be out tomorrow to put our title ambitions on hold. Student sides always play with plenty spirit and camaraderie fostered by playing twice a week and growing up together. In that respect Heriot-Watt are a typical university side and we know we’ll have to be at our very best to gain any of the three points available.

For our part we have five ex Heriot-Watt players in our ranks with Gavin Malin still playing for them in the university mid-week league. As well as Gav, Chris Flockhart, Robbie Manson, Omar Kader and Luke Cassidy all played for The “Watt” which adds to the sense of occasion.

Jorge Vinelli is back in Spain for a few days and is unavailable. Captain Stewart Fowlie has been ill and is doubtful while Alex King has re-started training and isn’t very far away. Sam and I will wait until the last minute before selecting the starting eleven.

We are all looking forward to a hard fought game against a typical competitive university side. We wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Mike

The Womens team beat Forfar 4 – 2 in a league game, goals from Siobhan Rooney, Julie Melrose, Di Barry and Claire Crosbie.

Our EoS 19s lost 3 – 1 to Edinburgh City in the league, Andrew Sinclair getting the goal.

The Sunday amateurs also went down in the league, losing 4 – 2 to Duddingston.

Mike says -

“First of all we were all very happy in the Spartans dressing room after yesterday’s victory at Ferguson Park. It puts us in our third semi final this year and we can look forward to an exciting last two months of our season. It was a result we would have gladly taken before the game but what of the performance and was it a missed opportunity?

I wasn’t happy at half-time as I thought our passing was sloppy on what looked like  a perfect surface. We continually gave the ball away and conceded far too many free kicks near our box. Ferguson Park isn’t the widest and free kicks and throw-ins too easily given away can result in goal chances for the opposition. If I wasn’t happy Sam was even more vocal in his condemnation of our first half performance and to the players credit it was a much better after the break.

This group of players have set high standards after a shaky first month of the season and Sam and I are there to remind them when these standard slip – that is our job.

In the wider picture was yesterday an opportunity lost? As Whitehill and ourselves battle it out for the league title two or three more goals would have given us a psychological edge. As it is it’s 3-3 on aggregate and they can point to any away goal and a sending off which they can say influenced yesterday’s result. We passed the ball much better in the second half even before the sending off  and got ourselves in some really good positions. Unfortunately our decision making and final ball let us down too many times. As I say another two or three goals would have given our boys a lift and sewn seeds of doubt in the minds of the Whitehill boys.  

The King Cup can go on the back burner for now as we turn our minds to our second last league game of the season against Heriot-Watt at Riccarton next Saturday. Hopefully Stewart Fowlie and Alex King will come back into the reckoning but Jorge Vinelli will miss out as he returns to Spain for a few days. The students found it far too easy to breach our defence in the reverse fixture so we wont be taking them lightly, that’s for sure.

More about that game later in the week.”

Mike

The Seniors had a comfortable 2 – 0 win over Whitehill Welfare in the 3rd round of the King Cup while both the Juniors and the Amateurs went down in league matches.

The Seniors game started pretty evenly for the first 15 minutes but then we took control.  Omar Kader started to cause real problems down the left wing and we had a couple of half chances before taking the lead.  Gavin Malin was brought down and from 25 yards Dean Hoskins curled the free kick into the top corner.

Deano - first strike from a free kick for a long time

We continued to dominate possession without creating too many clear cut chanes but the game looked over early in the second half when Whitehill defender Cornett was sent off when he brought down Omar as he headed through on goal.  It took until the 65th minute for the second to come, Keith McLeod finishing well after good work by Ross Archibald.  Chris Smith looked very sharp when he came on and we had chances to add to our lead but we couldnt convert.  The man of the match awarded by Jimmy Brown, our oldest regular supporter at 87, was Omar Kader who kept on taking the game to the Whitehill defence.   

Team Flockhart, O’Donnell, Hoskins (Henretty 71), Gerrard, Sivewright, Archibald, Manson, McAuley, Malin (Smith 71), Mcleod (Vinelli 66), Kader Sub not used McGarrie

The Juniors went down 3 – 2 to league leaders Tranent.  Nick Reid was out injured and early injuries to Michael Moffat and Andrew Cruickshank enforced a reshuffle and despite coming from behind twice it wasn’t enough to win a point.  New signing Paul Roberts scoring the first with Joe Steele grabbing the second.  Team: Paterek, Cruickshank (G Young), McKibben, Steele, Scott, Moffat (Robertson), Antoni, K Young, Perry, Roberts (Cartwright) Subs not used: Boyes, Gillon, Hutchison, Hair

The Amateurs lost 3 – 2 to armadale with Chris McIntyre and Ronnie Napier getting the goals.

The legends beat Lothian Thistle 4 – 1 tonight with goals from Brian Hutton, Graham McCall, Neil Irvine and Kenny Cameron.  The only disappointment on the night was a booking for Dave Lumsden for complaining at a referee’s decision.  the Squad was Graham, Hewat, Marsters, Kerr, Robertson, McNeill, Samuel, Irvine, McCall, Cowie, Cameron, Hoskins, Hutton, Lumsden.

Our third team at Under 14 play in the Paladin Cup Final tonight against Newcraighall, the game is at Saughton Enclosure with a 6.30ko.  Entrance is £2.  Thye boys are having a great season under the coaching of Michael De Angelis and Dave Watson, they won their Divisional cup last season and sit top of the league.  All the very best for tonight.

Tomorrow’s King Cup action kicks off tomorrow at 2.30pm at Rosewell, we’re looking for a big Spartans turn out.

Gav in scoring form...this effort came close last week

The Juniors have a critical game away to table topping Tranent in the league, ko also 2.30pm.  Injury problems mean a couple of call ups from our Under 19s but coach Dave Cowan is really looking forward to the game, “last week we showed tremendous character to take the points at Dalkeith and tomorrow gives us a chance to show what we can do against the big favourites for the title”.  Ex Spartan James McPartlin is the skipper at Tranent and he’s having a great season as they comfortably sit at the top of the table. 

The Amateurs are in league action away to Armadale Thistle.

The Womens team have drawn Inverness in the semi final in the League Cup, tie to be played on the 21st or 22nd of April.  Celtic play Aberdeen in the other semi after beating Glasgow City last night.

Mike says -

“Tomorrow we head out to my old stomping ground at Rosewell on King Cup duty. As a side show the teams playing are the only two who can still win the Premier League title. Will that have any baring on the game? I think not. If our league game was scheduled for next week or the week after, tomorrow’s game would have added significance but the “league decider” everyone is talking about has still to be allocated a date. No, tomorrow it’s about the King Cup and nothing else but that wont stop it being an exciting 90 minutes.

I watched Whitehill against a very good Lothian Thistle side at Saughton Enclosure on Wednesday and when the away side made it 2-2 midway through the Second Half there only looked one winner. As it was an injury to Andrew Kidd and lack of recent games caught up with the Rosewell side and Lothian came strong in the last quarter. Nothing I saw on the night made me think other than what a big task we have on our hands this weekend against a very good Whitehill side.

For our part, on Saturday Sam and I will be reminding our boys of the opening day of the season when we let ourselves down badly against those sitting in the home dressing room. Do our boys have something to prove? Not to Sam or myself but maybe they owe it to the Whitehill players to show they were a shadow of themselves on that August afternoon.

Alex King will unfortunately miss the game on Saturday but other than Wee Eck we have a full squad to choose from. We didn’t do well in the local cups last season and want to rectify that this time round. The King Cup is a welcome relief from trying to retain the league title and Sam and I will want the players to go out and express themselves in a positive manner.

With Alex unavailable we will make at least one change but those who watch us on a regular basis know Sam and I try to keep as many of our squad as match fit as possible. Whoever takes to the park in a Spartans jersey will be well warned that only their best will do against a proud and determined home side.

It should be a cracking game.”

Mike