Lowland League: Tremendous Tolmie tekkers guides Spartans to win in the Borders

Posted on Wednesday, March 21st, 2018

Goals from Willie Bremner and Blair Tolmie gave Spartans a comfortable three points on the road as they defeated 10-man Hawick Royal Albert on Tuesday evening.

After the return of the ‘Beast from the East’ at the weekend, the Albert Park groundstaff should take credit for turning round a surface of snow to a playable paddock as the inevitable springtime fixture backlog grows.

Spartans got off to the perfect start with the opening two minutes. A free-kick was launched into the box, an aerial tussle didn’t find the head of Guillermo Lamarca but the lurking Willie Bremner swooped on the ball akin to a seagull on chips to send home.

An early goal settling the tourists who were keen to avoid any proverbial banana skin slip ups against the basement side who could perhaps have counted themselves unfortunate not to have picked up more points in recent games.

Despite getting off to the ideal start, the visitors couldn’t get past the stuffy Hawick rearguard who set out their stall to nullify the title hopefuls.

Lamarca almost double the lead when he got on the end of a cross inside the box but his header was easily gathered by the Craig Saunders between the Hawick sticks.

The man from Madrid was even closer following some nifty footwork and skill from Blair Atkinson who slid him at the near post only to find Saunders pulling off a crucial save down low.

Hawick’s could have gone in level at the break when their only notable excursion into the Spartans danger zone offered a chance for David McCaughie. His thirty yards effort found the fingertips of Blair Carswell who done well to push it over the bar.

HT: Hawick Royal Albert 0-1 Spartans

In carbon copy timing from the first half, Spartans started the second with a goal shortly after the restart and what a collectors item it was too.

Blair Tolmie taking possession of the ball on the edge of the box before unleashing an unstoppable strike that crashed home via the underside of the crossbar. They’d be raving about that kinda stuff on the Match of Day sofa and no doubt Blair will be dining out on it for a while to come!

The hosts hopes of any recovery were hampered further when they were reduced to 10 men. The Referee having offered Tully a final warning was left with little option than to send the defender to the sheds for first dibs on the hot showers.

Samuel rung the changes midway through the half and it was a welcome return to the fray for Gavin Malin after a frustrating period on the treatment table.

Fellow bench custodian Dachi ‘the Georgian Bulldog’ Khutsishvili was unlucky not to make his mark from the bench when he had the ball in the net late on. Sadly for the sub, his effort was flagged offside by the stand-side linesman.

The decision offering a difference of opinion between the dugouts causing a lone female voice within the stand to tell the chaps to temper the testosterone. At least that’s a paraphrase of what your scribe heard.

FT: Hawick Royal Albert 0-2 Spartans

Spartans XI: 1. Carswell, 2. Herd, 3. Stevenson, 4. Tolmie, 5. Corbett, 6. Dishington (Malin), 7. Atkinson (Stevens), 8. Brown, 9. Lamarca (Khutsishvili), 10. Bremner, 11. Maxwell  Subs (Unused): 15. Thomson, 17. Nixon, GK. Stobie