A Challenge from the South

Posted on Friday, February 8th, 2013

lt’s always nice to test ourselves against top teams from another league. Threave Rovers have long been established as one of the top sides in the South, meaning that tomorrow they visit the Academy with a winning mentality and a genuine desire to go all the way in the South Challenge Cup. It’s a game we are all looking forward too.

Looking back on last weekend, the highlight of our 8-0 victory vs. Hawick RA was to see Donal ‘Harry’ Henretty score a double to take his all time goal scoring record for Spartans to 100 goals…a fantastic achievement. Other players may have grabbed more headlines during Harry’s time at the Club, however, without question in my mind he has been absolutely key to Spartans success over the past decade. I know from 1st hand experience how difficult it is to set your team to stop him from being an influence on the game.

Harry remains a driving force for us on the park, where a huge will to win is married to excellent game know-how and an ability on the ball that is hugely under-rated and perhaps over-looked by some. However, his influence in the dressing room is just as great, where for me he absolutely epitomises ‘sacrifice the me for the we’.

On the player front, the squad is starting to return to full strength just at the right time. This week, Ali returned to full time training, along with Danny and Jack who missed last week’s game due to slight knocks. In addition, Feegs has recovered from the calf knock he took last week.

On the downside Willie Bremner is unavailable today, along with Ando who is recuperating following his recent operation. The health, depth and versatility within our squad will all be key factors over the coming months as we continue to go from one big game to the next…roll on 2.30pm tomorrow and our next stiff challenge.