The Seniors will be at full strength for the game against Heriot-Watt Uni with Ross Archibald, Chris Flockhart and David Etale all back in the squad.  The ko is 2.30 pm and with the bouncy castle for the kids and the players and coaches wags all invited we’re hoping for a big crowd.

The Juniors head off to Livingston Utd for a league game with Michael Moffat missing through injury but Nick Reid returns after missing the  big game last week through holiday commitments.

The Legends ko at 12.30 on the FieldTurf against Dutch team SSV but the Amateurs Miller Cup semi has been postponed as their opposition Tollcross have reached a cup final being played this weekend.

On Sunday our Womens team take on Dundee Utd with a 2pm ko on the FieldTurf.  We also host the EoS19s League Cup final between Edinburgh City and Tynecastle on the stadium pitch with a 2pm ko. 

Looking ahead to Monday our Under 14 Colts play their second cup final of the season when they take on the Bonnyrigg Colts in the Pilmar Smith Cup, the game is at Bonnyrigg Rose’s ground, ko 7pm.

Mike says -

“Tomorrow we play the first of two semi finals in 4 days at the Academy. It’s the players job to concentrate on Heriot-Watt and the job at hand but Sam and I will take Tuesday into consideration when picking the team. That is because as I’ve said on here many many times, the quality of our squad is such that we have 13 or 14 players of equal ability and Sam and I are happy to field any 11 from that 14.

Back to Heriot-Watt and a very difficult afternoon ahead.  Michael kept his players in the home dressing room for a while after our game at Riccarton on 27th March as they dissected a very strange game. We are generally slow starters but that day we came out the traps and scored twice early in both halves which decided the game. For long spells before and after the interval there was little between the teams but the damage had been done and the points heading to Ainslie Park. Tomorrow I’m sure we will have to work a lot harder for any goals we score.

Keith Anderson reminded me yesterday that the students are the holders of the King Cup and add to that the fact that they are one of only two teams who have scored 3 goals against us at the Academy this season and you can see they come here with plenty incentive and the knowledge they can cause us problems.

Sam and I will be hoping that whatever team we put out continues to show the consistency, commitment and ability we have shown for a couple of months now.

Finally we’d hoped to have David Etale back in our squad tomorrow as he has been back training with us for a few weeks. It seems however we’ll have to wait a little bit longer before David returns to our ranks. He’d set pre-season as his aim and it might be we just have to wait until then to have our talisman striker back in a Spartans strip”

Mike

A date for everyone’s diary.  The Womens Scottish League Cup Final between us and Celtic will now take place on the stadium pitch at the Academy on Wednesday 12th May with a 7.30 ko.  The game no longer clashes with the Seniors cup final against Gretna so we’re hoping for a big Spartans turn out. 

Last night the Saturday Amateurs had a great 2 – 1 win over table topping Lochend with Wells and Johnson the scorers.

It will be a busy Saturday afternoon this week at the Academy.

It kicks off at 12.30 when the Spartans Legends take on SSV Veterans from Holland who are over touring. Manager Euan Hoy has issued his squad early in the hope that a couple might be encouraged to do some training. The squad is Graham, Lumsden, Jardine, Ettles, McLaren, Samuel, Mckeating, Hoy, Hughes, Tulloch, Hutton, Cowie, Antoniewicz, Nixon, Kirkpatrick.

The main event of the afternoon is the Seniors King Cup semi-final against Heriot Watt University which kicks off at 2.30. To celebrate a successful season (so far) the Coaches’ and Players’ WAGS have been invited to watch the game and enjoy some hospitality. We have also ordered a “Monster Trucks” bouncy castle for all our young supporters to enjoy from 1.30, and Sparry will be wandering around after taking centre stage in the league championship trophy presentation last week.

The Amateurs also have an important game, a Miller Cup semi final against Tollcross Thistle which starts on the FieldTurf at 2.30.

Rather belatedly the scores from Sunday.
The Womens team had a good 3 – 0 win at Aberdeen in a league fixture, a brace for Di Barry and one for Pauline Hammill.
The EoS 19s drew 2 – 2 at Tynecastle in the second leg of their Challenge Cup semi final to go out 3 – 2 on aggregate.
Only one fixture this midweek with the Saturday Amateurs playing Lochend away at Seafield in a league game on Wednesday evening.

Shelley Kerr

Spartans Shelley Kerr has announced that she is to step down as Head Coach of Spartans FC women’s first team to concentrate on her Scottish Football Association roles. All involved with Spartans are grateful for her leadership over the last two years. We wish her well in her role as Head Coach of the Women’s U19 National squad. Shelley has led the Scotland youngsters through two qualifying stages meeting difficult opponents along the way. Her charges will soon be participating in the Euro Championship Finals in Macedonia competing with group opponents England, Germany and Italy.

Carson Ralton commented “Shelley is an excellent coach who is committed and passionate, during her time as head coach she has raised the level and expectations of this club. I have absolutely no doubt Shelley will go on to coach at the very highest level in the future, I look forward to following her progress in the game and wish her the utmost success, I am delighted that Shelley will continue as a player with Spartans as her experience on the field is invaluable”.

Debbi McCulloch

Ralton continued “Despite this set back on a brighter note we are very fortunate to have Debbi McCulloch as assistant to Shelley and with immediate effect Debbi has accepted the opportunity to take over the Head Coach role. Debbi is an excellent highly respected coach who will revel in the lead role”. When asked how she felt about her new position Debbi stated, “Although I am disappointed that Shelley has decided to stand down I fully understand that her priorities lie with her SFA duties. I am however excited to be taking on the more challenging role of Head Coach. I have learned a lot from Shelley in all aspects of the game and I am keen to take that learning forward while also introducing ideas of my own. We have a great bunch of players at the club and fantastic support from the Spartans family, it is great place to be and I am eager to build on what has already been achieved”.

Mike says -

“First of all it was good to get back to the dressing room atmosphere before, at half-time and after the game. Being stuck on a holiday island was fine in many respects but having waited 30 years for it to happen could it not have been in the close season.

Anyway the boys obviously hadn’t missed me because the effort, commitment, ability and consistency they were showing before my extended holiday was there for all to see against a Preston team who were well up for the game yesterday. Stevie went three up and their back to front game plan caused us problems both at the back and in central midfield where they had the extra man. Despite going back ahead just before half-time Sam and I were concerned enough 10 minutes after the break to push Omar further forward and Robbie central to match up against an opposition who were still causing us problems. The third and fourth goals came in quick succession and virtually killed the game.

Omar deservedly takes most of the plaudits yesterday with his second and third strikes being exceptional. I’d also single out Craig McGarrie in goal who faced a difficult time against a big strong team and handled everything very confidently. The back four dealt with a lively front three and Sean battled hard in midfield. The truth is there were no below par performances from any Spartans player or sub yesterday and that is just as well because the Pennypitt is never an easy place to get a result.

We now face two semi-finals in four days and Sam and I will have a long hard think about both games before picking either starting eleven. This group of players have a chance of taking part in three cup finals if they can overcome two very good university sides. What a great incentive to finish the season on such a high.

First things first and Heroit-Watt in the semi of the King Cup at the Academy on Saturday. More about that later in the week.”

Mike