East of Scotland Select scoop up Ronnie Swan silverware

Posted on Tuesday, May 13th, 2014

Three first half goals from Garry Aitchison’s East of Scotland Select side were enough to lift the Ronnie Swan Challenge Cup at Ainslie Park on Tuesday night.

Spartans duo Ian Ballantyne and Lucas Rusin were in the Select XI and it was the former who put the East of Scotland side 0-1 up in the 7^th minute against his ‘own’ team.

Worse was to follow on the half hour when a wayward throw out from his box by Jackson found a welcoming Select jersey and the ball was whipped in to the box for Dunn to slot home.

It was a brace for Ballantyne in the 37^th minute after one of Alex Cunningham’s most consistent players this season capitalised on some slack defending to pounce and nudge the ball past regular team-mate Jackson in the Spartans goal.

Kevin Motion came close to pulling one back on the stroke of half-time when his free-kick from the edge of the box cleared the wall but failed to dip in time and hit the support pole at the back of the net.

Half Time: Spartans 0-3 EOS Select

Sean Muhsin and Donal Henretty came on at the break to replace Jack Blaikie and Chris Anderson.  The latter having played his final 45 minutes for The Spartans before setting off to start up his own Coaching business.

It was a first class save from Craigroyston’s Stuart Burnside that denied Dubai bound Danny Main from scoring in his final game for the Club.  The big defender departs to undertake a teaching position in the summer and we know he’ll have pondering wisely over the decision to give up the sandy beaches of Silverknowes for those in the United Arab Emirates!

Meanwhile, back to the action and Spartans gaffer Dougie Samuel made another change, this time withdrawing Mark Whately and he was replaced by Matthew Cunningham.

The was a mixed bag of frustration for Gary Cennerazzo and goalkeeper Burnside when the former saw his shot well saved as he looked to narrow the deficit, only for the Referee to point for a bye-kick.

Finally the breakthrough but it sadly proved to be nothing more than a consolation prize.  Bremner’s industrious play at the edge of the box created an opening for substitute Cunningham who blasted the ball home from 10 yards out to make it 1-3.

Spartans continued to press however the comeback of comebacks wasn’t to be and it was the East of Scotland Select who held out for the victory.

Ronnie Swan’s Grandson Ben Swan was on hand to present the coveted prize post-match to the Select Captain John Crawford.