Play-offs: Play it again, fans! Be the 12th man urges Sam.

Posted on Friday, May 5th, 2023

The Spartans head to ‘the hedge’ on Saturday in the Pyramid Play-off 2^nd leg against Brechin City taking last week’s Blair Henderson late headed winner on the road with them as they look to continue their journey on the road to league football.

One player looking to help guide his team towards that part of the play-off jigsaw is Sam Jones.

Jones, who signed from Penicuik Athletic in the summer of 2020, is set to become the latest Spartans Centurion this weekend in what he describes as “one of the biggest games I’ll have played in my career so far.”

Play-maker Jones was at the heart of the home midfield last Saturday at a buzzing Ainslie Park arena and spoke about the positive mood in the camp ahead of the crucial return clash.   “I think it was really encouraging last weekend to see all the fans who came out, just over 2,000 which was incredible.  It felt like more than that actually when you’ve got all the kids in the Newtown Roofing and Building stand signing and shouting for the whole game – it was superb.

“Everyone’s really positive in the camp this week.  I think the result last week shows that.  Going down to 10 men for a large portion of the game, we still looked so confident and looked like we could score more goals and perhaps were lucky only to have finished the game having scored just the one goal.

“Defensively we were resilient and absorbed the pressure really well, so I think there’s a real sense of confidence throughout the team.  Obviously there’s going to have to be changes in there with Kev’s red card but we’re really confident we can go there and get the result we need.”

With the narrow advantage banked ahead of the trip to Brechin, Jones is looking forward to another big game for the club and himself, in what will be his 100^th in Spartans colours.

“Brechin are obviously a good side and have a  really good home record as well.  I think we possibly shocked them as to how good we were actually on Saturday as well.  We now go up there with something to defend, so it’s going to be a completely different Brechin side coming out knowing the have to get a result against us.

“Maybe that will actually work in our advantage.  We were good on the counter attacks last week and we’re going to be as strong as ever on that front in any game we play in. It’ll be a tough game and we’ll be sure to go there and put in our best performance on the day.”

Jones was full of praise too for the support the side have received too along the way throughout the long campaign.

“We were speaking about the support we’ve had after the game last week and we’ve absolutely loved the young kids inclusion this season.  I think it’s been absolutely incredible.  The way they shout through the whole game, bang that drum – it makes a real, real, difference. 

“The travelling fans too make such a great difference and no doubt that all friends and families will be heading to Brechin too, hopefully cheering us on to the next round of the play-offs.

With a smile, Jones adds, “After each game they’re asking for boots and tops and stuff! Hopefully at the end of the season we can be in a position to share some of that with them when we’ve completed the jigsaw and gained promotion to SPFL 2 – that would be brilliant!”