Mixed day at the office

Posted on Saturday, September 18th, 2010

The Seniors beat Stirling Uni on penalties after a 1 – 1 draw in the South Region Challenge Cup but the Juniors lost 4 – 1 to Haddington after taking the lead.
The Seniors started with the same XI as last week and really took the game to the students. It was no surprise when we opened the scoring, Robbie’s dangerous free kick headed into his own net by Creag Robertson after 13 minutes. We continued to dominate and Omar Kader looked certain to score but he nodded Donal Henretty’s cross over the bar from three yards. The students came into the game as the half progressed without troubling Chris Flockhart but just before half time a rocket from Liam Corr took a deflection and flew past Chris.
The second half was mostly controlled by the students and they should have taken the lead on the 70 minute mark – Danny O’Donnell pushed a Uni striker in front of goal, the penalty was awarded but Chris flew to his right to parry Corr’s spot kick. Few chances were created from then on and although we had good possession in extra time our final ball wasn’t good enough. Penalties it was. Robbie netted first and then Chris pulled off another fine penalty save. We had to score four in a row to win and Chris S, Gav, Deano and Keith duly obliged. It was a tough way to start the campaign to retain the trophy. A bad knee knock to Chris Townsley is also worrying, just as Ross and AK come back another injury isn’t welcome. The Leith pub the Malt and Hops with its big Spartans following has kindly agreed to sponsor the Seniors man of the match and todays award of the Malt and Hops man of the match went to Chris Flockhart for his match winning penalty saves. Team: Flockhart, O’Donnell, Townsley (Fowlie 71), Hoskins, Sivewright, Kader (Archibald 107), Malin, Manson, McLeod, Etale (Smith 86) Subs not used: Beesley, King
Garry has posted video highlights of the match on the Spartans forum.
Sean McAuley wasn’t with the team today. He’s likely to join Preston Athletic as he looks for a regular starting position, full details will be announced on the website as news develops.

Gary Bannon gave the Juniors an early lead at Haddington but a strong Haddington performance and a poor Spartans display saw us collapse to a 4-1 defeat. Andrew Cruickshank was also sent off to complete a miserable afternoon. Full report to follow.