Spartans suffer King Cup defeat against Stirling at gusty Gannochy

Posted on Wednesday, March 19th, 2014

A gutsy second half display at a gusty Gannochy wasn’t enough to claw back two early Stirling goals to keep current holders Spartans in the King Cup.

It was all change for Spartans as they fielded 11 different players from Saturday’s starting line up at Nithsdale, with players from East of Scotland League side and youngsters Mair, Atkinson, Lachie and Raiker from the U/19s making the trip to the University to take on Eddie May’s men.

The Students too made several changes from their traditional Lowland League line-up as the Students embarked upon their BUCS Finals next week. 

The swirling wind and a bumpy hard pitch made for difficult conditions for the sides to play attractive fast flowing football with the ball staying airborne and making unpredictable bounces in equal measure.

Early goalmouth action was at a premium with Kidd counting himself unlucky with a close range header that was well saved by Hughes.

Spartans were then hit with a double whammy with two goals in ten minutes.

Geddes opened the scoring after capitalising on a defensive mix-up then Monguel’s strike from the edge of the box evaded the outstretched glove of Jackson to give the Students a 2-0 lead at the break.

Half Time: Stirling Uni 2-0 Spartans

An early second half double substitution saw Atkinson and Cochrane introduced to the sandy Stirling surface, replacing Gray and Ghamgosar.

Pyda was in fine form in the heart of the Spartans defence and his tough tackling prevented Stirling from making any further headway as his side looked for a way back into the game.

Atkinson showed some trickery on the ball as the pint-sized youngster searched for a way past Hughes in the Stirling goal.  He was denied as the keeper rushed out to smother the ball as the Under 19s star rushed on to a ‘route one’ pass from Mair.

It was Mair who helped set up Spartans with a 75^th minute comeback bid as he outjumped the Stirling defence to head the ball into the path of Rusin and the Polish striker rammed the ball hard into the bottom corner. 2-1.

Raiker’s clearance of his own goal line galvanised his Spartans team mates however his efforts proved to be in vain as the Students held out for a narrow win to progress to Round 2.

Full Time: Stirling University 2-1 Spartans

Spartans: Jackson, Boyes, Ghamgosar, Pyda, Kidd, Stewart, Mair, Raiker, Gray, Ballantyne, Rusin. Subs: (all used) Atkinson, Cochrane, Lachie.

We’d like to thank Stirling Uni for their kind hospitality and wish them all the best in the BUCS Final.