Spartans Seniors are playing Coldstream this Saturday (17th) with an 11am Kickoff on the Field Turf. Players should meet at 9.45am.

The Junior side start their pre-season campaign this coming weekend as they take part in the Eddie Queen tournament in Blackburn, West Lothian. We won the trophy last year, beating Civil Service Strollers on the Saturday before a hard fought victory over fellow Junior side Kirkcaldy YM saw us lift the shield.

We start our defence of the trophy against hosts Blackburn on Saturday 17th, kick of is 12.30pm. Civil Service then play Kirkcaldy YM in the later game kicking off at 3pm. The two losing sides play each other on the Sunday at 12.30 with the two winners facing each other in the final at 3pm on the Sunday.

The weather is set to clear in time to see a new look Spartan Junior side back in action. The majority of last season players have signed up again for this year with only Dale Robertson, Gary Young, Iain Cartwright and Adam Perry leaving over the summer. We are delighted that Phil McKibben has made his move perminent and there will also be a number of new signings on show, full details of these new players and the squad for next season will follow later.

Any Spartan fans looking to make the trip should contact Cameron Hobbs (07962 353 645) for information on location and travel arrangements. Entry is free on both days and we would love to see some of you there.

Spartans seniors lost 4-1 to SFL Division 3 Champions Livingston today in a wet and wild afternoon at Ainslie Park. Several key players were missing however Chris Townsley and Jack Beesley made their debuts for the club. Livingston had a very strong starting line up with several of the new summer signings on show.

Livingston started strong and took the lead early through new signing Iain Russell. Russell then scored a second midway through the first half to give the visitors a strong 2-0 half time scoreline.

It took just minutes into the second half for the lead to be extended. Kyle Jacobs scoring having come on at the break to make an instant impression on the game. Another new summer signing, Aaron Conway then made it four before Alex King scored a screamer towards the end of the game to reduce the defecit.

The game finished 4-1 and the players will have benefitted from the strong test against this season second division favourites.

Team: McGarrie, O’Donnell, Townsley, Sivewright, Hoskins, Manson, King, Beesley, Henretty, Etale, Malin.

The Seniors have a couple of players missing tomorrow’s friendly against Livingston.  Chris Flockhart, Ross Archibald and Chris Smith dont make it but Mike Irving is confident we have the strength in depth to give Livi a good game.  Mike is taking the team while Mike Lawson and Sam Lynch enjoy a holiday break and has been delighted with the application in training, “the players have returned in great shape and although the game is early for us it does give us a great test against full time opposition who will be challenging for the SFL2 title”. Squad: McGarrie, O’Donnell, Hoskins, Fowlie, Townsley, McAuley, Manson, Etale, Malin, McLeod, Sivewright, King, Henretty, Beesley, Vinelli.  The ko is 3pm.

Spartans legend Jonny Seeley has been training with the team over the last couple of weeks although work commitments will keep him out tomorrow and will limit his availability through the season.

Mike - in charge against Livi

Fixtures for August and September have been released for the Junior side.

The Junior season starts on August 4th with an away tie to Pumpherston in our league cup section. We then play a home game against West Calder on Saturday 7th before playing Junior Superleague giants Linlithgow Rose on Wednesday 11th at the academy. The league cup group continues with an away game vs Armadale on Saturday 14th before our group game against another Superleague team, Newtongrange Star. The match should see an early return to Ainslie Park for Adam Perry who has left the Junior side this summer.

We open our league campaign on August 21st with a game against Edinburgh United in the only Edinburgh derby match in Junior football. We then face a number of away games against Livingston Utd, West Calder and Haddington before a huge match at home against Tranent on September 25th. Tranent finished in third place last season, ending on the same points and only behind us on goal difference. We lost out to the East Lothian side twice last season by just a single goal each time and we will be looking to get more positive results during this campaign.

We have also been drawn away to North District league side Arbroath Vic in the East of Scotland cup first round and will travel to Angus on September 11th.

Season tickets will be valid for all home matches and league cup group matches. Details of all our fixtures can be found on the Junior fixture and results page.

More information on the latest Junior squad news will be available next week.