Juniors season ends with impressive victory

Posted on Wednesday, May 26th, 2010

Spartans Junior side ended their season tonight with an impressive 3-0 victory over league winners Broxburn. There were changes to the line up with Dale Robertson, Paul Roberts and Jacob Crolla all getting starting positions. Broxburn started strong as they looked to gain their first every victory against Spartans. As the half went on we came into the game more and more. On the half hour mark Nick Reid had a shot from outside the box touched onto the crossbar by the keeper as it looked destined to thunder into the net. With just minutes of the first half left a ball was crossed from the left wing to find Crolla at the far post to fire home the opener.

Spartans came out for the 2nd half and started strongly and it took just 60 seconds for the lead to be extended. Adam Perry did well to great space down the right wing. His cross was mis-hit by Roberts, however the ball fell at the feet of Reid who fired home.

Spartans’  task was made harder on the hour mark when Adam Perry was shown a very harsh straight red card for a tackle near the corner. Broxburn hoped to take advantage of the extra man and were pushing  forward to try and get back into the game as the Spartan defence and midfield worked continuously to contain them.

Ten minutes later and Spartans had the result secured. A great pass out from defence allowed Paul Roberts to challenge the Broxburn defence for the ball. Having brushed off the centre half, he looked up to see the Broxburn keeper off his line and chipped a perfect ball over the goalie’s head to make it 3-0.

Spartans had to worked hard for the remaineder of the game to ensure they kept the clean sheet. Paterek pulled off a great save with just minutes left as we held on for a deserved victory.

The result means we have secured 2nd place in the South District League after our first attempt. It is a phenomenal achievement for our debut season in the Junior set up and credit must go to all the players. The great team unity and pride they have shown has helped secure some fantastic results. In a season where early expectations were midtable we have far exceeded that. A special mention must also go David, Stuart and Stef who have helped turn a team of mainly amateur players into a top junior side that everyone involved with Spartans can be proud of.

We hope the players will stay with us for next season as we aim to go one better and win the league next season. With the current players and management team we would certainly be confident of achieving that.

Team: Paterek, Cruickshank, Steele, McKibben, Scott, Reid (Cartwright), Crolla, Antoni, Perry, Roberts (Young), Robertson (Boyes)