The Journey Continues…

Posted on Thursday, October 3rd, 2013

We’re back on the road this weekend and once again this season we are delighted to say we are getting the opportunity to go somewhere we’ve never been before!

On Saturday we travel to to face Albion Rovers in the 2nd round of the William Hill Scottish Cup, a club founded in 1882, which has a long proud history in Scottish Football. Albion have almost tasted success in the Scottish Cup too having finished as runners up in the 1919-20 season losing out 3-2 to Kilmarnock in the final infront of over 95,000 people at Celtic Park!

The Scottish Cup trips are perharps the most popular of the games we play, not just with the fans (who regularly enjoy the big days out!) but for the players too. Over the years we’ve faced a number of top SPFL sides and we’ve even beaten a few of them on the way.

Spartans Chairman Craig Graham remembers our best ever result in the Scottish Cup as we held 1st Division St. Mirren to a 0-0 draw in 2006, and nearly won it right at the end!
I have three abiding memories from our St Mirren last 16 cup game. Firstly when they tried everything to move the game from City Park (perhaps understandably) however a big effort from the press, the SFA, the Police and us at Spartans enabled the game to go ahead at our home pitch with an all ticket 3400 crowd. There were some frosty moments between the teams we can now laugh about….they didn’t like our match tickets, we couldn’t agree on pricing, they jumped the fence a few days before the game to measure the pitch etc etc. We still seem to be the enemy for the Buddies fans, not sure why?

Secondly the first game finished 0 – 0. With five minutes left Mickey and Sam went for broke as we went to a 3 3 4 formation and it nearly came off as Jonny Seeley knocked the ball wide from 4 yards following a corner. The crowd was superb. Future Scotland star Charlie Adam didn’t seem to enjoy the rough terrain…who would have done with Mark Burns and Willie Bennett snapping at your ankles.

Finally the replay. In the days before sat nav systems Sam said he knew the route….some dodgy directions plus roadworks plus the driver reversing into a parked car meant we arrived only 50 minutes before game. Less time for nerves I guess. Anyway St Mirren dominated the first 20 minutes scoring two goals…a late third gave them a comfortable victory. My best memory is however the Spartans fans…we were packed into the away end and they were in full voice. I actually sat with the crowd…after the carry on before the first game it was probably sensible to avoid the Board Room.

Having played 375 games for the club, Spartans Legend Donal Henretty has been part of a number of cup runs. He remembers the successful trip to Gayfield
“I remember we travelled up to Arbroath early and had a pre match meal in a nearby Hotel. When we got off the bus we were nearly all blown away, such was the strength of the wind.

We started the game slowly and I was fortunate not to concede an own goal early on. Shortly afterwards however we went one down and playing into the wind, I am sure most Spartans fans thought it was going to be a long afternoon.

We gradually started to find our feet and passed the ball really well into the gale force wind. Cloudie got the equaliserthen Craig Manson put us ahead right on the stroke of half time. I think going in 2 – 1 up at half time gave all of us a big lift and the confidence certainly grew in the second half with more goals coming from Phil Johnson and another from Craig Manson. When Craig’s goal went in I remember we all ran to celebrate in front of the main stand with the dugout. A truly memorable moment.

When the final whistle went it was great to go and celebrate as a team in front of the band of Spartans fans who had made a great noise throughout. Crowding around the TV in the Arbroath tea room waiting for the draw was very exciting – until the tea lady lost it that we all had our boots still on! In the cup that year we played with three up and left them up all the time – it certainly made for some interesting scores and results!

Great memories!”

Spartan fan Cameron Hobbs remembers a tie against top Junior side Pollok in the first round of the 2008.
“Pollok were most certainly the favourites, and having suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of a Junior team the seaosn before, we were a little nervous as we travelled along the M8. When Bryan Dingwall put Pollok ahead in the 17th minute, we worried that it may have been a long afternoon. However we responded well and Nicky Walker brought us back level from the penalty spot before half time. Pollok had a lot of the ball but we had all the chances in the second half. Walker hit the bar with a header and Darryl Devlin fired one just wide when he looked certain to score. Myself and another fan, Mark Palmer had wondered round the ground during the game and found ourselves in with the Pollok fans by the end of the game so actually, we were quite glad in the end we didn’t find that winner with us deep in enemy territory!

Pollok came to City Park a week later, and brought a big crowd with them, but like so many other sides that visited in the Scottish Cup, they left with nothing. Robbie Manson took an early headknock and wore a blood stained bandage round his head for most of the game (something that appears to becoming a bit of a Scottish Cup tradition for us!), Alex King was superb in midfield, Dan Gerrard was a rock at the back and it was Nicky Walker who scored the winner in the 86th minute, making the most of a defensive mistake by the Junior side. My lasting memory of that goal was the fact I ended up covered in Irn-Bru as I’d just opened a can moments before the goal went in!”

From reflecting on the past, we now look the future. Craig, Donal and Cameron all agree that we’re eagerly anticipating our first visit to Cliftonhill. Regardless of the full time result, we know the Board, Players and Supporters will enjoy the sort of day out we hope to have more of in the future!

If you can’t make it to the game you can keep up to date with all the action on our twitter feed – simply follow @SpartansFC and if you want to talk about the game use the Scottish Cup hashtag #DefyTheOdds or the Spartans hashtag #SpartanArmy