Lowland League | Students put to the sword as Henderson bags brace

Posted on Sunday, August 1st, 2021

Blair Henderson’s second half double saw Spartans end a seven day spell with maximum points and three clean sheets as Dougie Samuel’s side beat Stirling University 0-2 at Forthbank Stadium.

With the intensity of the early season fixture list, the Gaffer swapped personnel around for the trip to face the Greens who were keen to bounceback after their midweek defeat to Celtic B.

After a pair of four goal victories, Spartans went into the game with momentum behind them however it was the Students who had the better of the early exchanges however neither keeper were troubled in the opening quarter of an hour.

The first chance of the game came from the boot of Jamie Dishington who sent a 25 yard rasper just past the scrambling Stirling keeper’s post.

A (rather weak) claim for a Stirling penalty wasn’t entertained by Referee Dallas as the home side looked to make progress as the first half wore on.

A snapshot from Blair Henderson was the last of the opportunities, but his effort saw the ball settle in the empty vacuum of the terracing behind the goal.

Half Time: Stirling University 0-0 The Spartans

Now, we’ve paid our money and rocked up to see this movie already this season. The second half Spartans goal show took all of 60 seconds to start after the 45 minutes of trailers and a Fast & Furious 9 Blair Henderson was lurking in the box to take receipt of Mikey Allan’s cross to thunder home.

Sam Jones replaced Michael Herd ahead of the restart as Spartans looked to build on their lead.

A neat one-two saw Jamie Dishington denied by a decent save to extend the lead as Spartans turned up the temperature as the sunshine offered the same, bursting through the Stirling clouds.

Gregor Woods was next to enter the fray, as he swapped places with Sam Newman on the hour mark.

His first move was to make his way towards Blair Henderson to celebrate his second goal of the afternoon.

Scott Maxwell sent the ball beyond the Student defence to capture Jamie Dishington on the wing, he raced towards the by-line before sending in a teasing low cross which found Henderson lurking at the back post and the striker’s telescopic legs reached out to slide home.

A cross into the box this time from Sam Jones was met by the head of Jamie Dishington who could only look on in dismay as his looping header crashed off the crossbar and behind.

Full Time: Stirling University 0-2 The Spartans

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