Spartans fight back to progress to final

Posted on Saturday, April 16th, 2011

We had to fight back from being 1-0 down to beat Edinburgh Uni at the academy today and progress to the King Cup Final.

We started strongly and Dean Hoskins fired over the bar after just 10 seconds. As the game settled however the Uni started to take control and were working hard to close us down at every opportunity. The visitors had most of the first half possession however neither keeper had much to do in the first 45 minutes.

The second half was a much more even event. Uni scored first, when Jack Beacher did well to get into space before his cut back was fired home. The goal seemed to galvanise us and it took just 2 minutes for us to pull level. Omar Kader did brilliant to make space for himself in the box. He layed the ball off to Keith McLeod who then passed it onto Ross Archibald. ‘On fire’ Ross then scored his 5th goal in 3 games, flicking the ball up for himself before finishing it with a fine shot.

The game was now end to end stuff with both teams having chances to take the lead. With the game looking like it might be heading for extra time, Omar Kader once again did well this time to release Ross Archibald on the right hand side. His cross into the box was then finished by Keith McLeod with an impressive scissor kick volley.

The Uni had a freekick and a couple of corners towards the end however we managed to hold on for the victory.

We will now face Stirling Uni in what is a repeat of last year’s final following their impressive 5-0 victory away to Lothian Thistle.

Malt and Hops Man of the Match: Jack Beesley, once again filling in for the injured Alex King put in a hard working and impressive performance.

Team: Flockhart, O’Donnell, Fowlie, Townsley, Sivewright, Kader, Beesley, Manson, Archibald, McLeod, Hoskins Subs Unused Malin, Smith, Sinclair, Finnie, Mcgarrie

Elsewhere the Juniors had a disappointing 2-2 draw away to Harthill. The Juniors have a number of injuries to key players at the moment and only had 10 fit players today. Spartans Chairman Craig Graham came out of retirement to play in goals today but was unable to help the team secure all 3 points.