Lowland League | Penker tailored Spartans ploy to bounceback against the Braves

Posted on Friday, October 28th, 2022

A week, they say, is a long time in politics, however in the cut and thrust of non-league football, the highs and the lows of last week’s exit on the Road to Hampden journey are firmly parked in the mind of Jamie Penker.

Both sides exited the Scottish Cup last week and meet at Alliance Park where they go head to head on League duty as Spartans aim to maintain their momentum, going into the clash on a four match unbeaten run.

The midfielder, who signed in the summer from Stirling University, is keen to ensure Spartans continue where they left off in the Lowland League three weeks ago when they head west on Saturday to take on Caledonian Braves.

“I think it’s fair to say that we will be using last week’s performance as the fuel to start from the off against Braves.  It was a disappointing outcome and obviously things didn’t pan out the way we wanted them to go. 

“We’ve had two good sessions at training in order to regroup and regather and our full focus now goes into our league campaign and channel in on what we want to achieve come the end of the season.”

As cliches go, one swallow doesn’t make a summer and it’s equally correct, Penker notes, that one defeat in six outings doesn’t a crisis make.

“Our form in the league recently has been really good.  We’ve been keeping clean sheets and not shy when it comes to scoring goals either.  The whole squad have contributed well to these results and it’s also great to see many of the lads coming back from injury too, so hopefully this can be the start of another ‘mini-run’ if you want to call it that.

“Every Saturday you go into the game hungry for that win and secure three points each time.  It’s important therefore that we turn up with the right attitude.  We know it’ll be a tricky game as it always is at their place however we go into it confident with the quality we have in our squad and look to take the points.

Tomorrow’s match at Alliance Park is at 3pm.  Admission is free (or optional donation at the gate).