Danny’s the Main Man in Fan-tash-tic Win

Posted on Saturday, November 23rd, 2013

Spartans are into the 3rd round of the South Challenge Cup following a thrilling 3-2 victory at home to current cup holders Whitehill Welfare, thanks largely to Mustached for Movember, Danny Main.

The vistors started brightly and closed down every ball during a frantic first half. Scott Bennett was again on form, making great stops from Stuart McLaughlin and Wayne Sproule as Whitehill were on top in the early minutes.

Spartans opened the scoring however  in the 21st minute. A Kevin Motion freekick from the left wing was headed toward the back post by Willie Bremner, where Danny Main was waiting to sweep the ball home with his right foot from 3 yards out.

Whitehill were back on level terms just 60 seconds later. From the kick off Aaron Somerville made the most of a poor touch by Danny O’Donnell. The ball was partially cleared from his foot by the defence however it fell to winger Stevie Manson and he played a neat pass into the box to allow Andrew Kidd to just beat Scott Bennett to it and poke the ball home.

Whitehill deservedly went in at half time with a lead. A corner kick in the 42nd minute was only partially cleared by the home defense and the ball fell to former Spartan Kerr Dodds who hit it first, the ball taking a slight deflection off Ally MacKinnon and finding its way into the corner of the net.

Spartans got back on level terms in the 63rd minute. Another Kevin Motion freekick, this time from the right, found Danny Main on the penalty spot and his looping head flew over Bryan Young in the Whitehill goal and into the net.

From there the hard working Whitehill players began to tire and Spartans were able to create better chances as they were able to stretch the tried Welfare defence.

Keith McLeod then scored for the 7th game in a row (and his 11th goal in those 7 games). Danny Main’s clearance from defence was flicked on by Mark Whatley to set McLeod free. Keeper Bryan Young made a last ditch attempt with a sliding tackle outside the box, which could have seen the keeper sent off had he timed it wrong, however McLeod rounded the ball past him and stroked it into the net from an angle. The legendary Spartan striker sought out his father in the crowd to celebrate yet another winner for the club, his 13th of the season and his 257th of his Spartans career.

Five minutes of injury time were added on at the end making for a nervous finish for both sets of fans but the tired Whitehill side struggled to create many attacking opportunities and Spartans held out for the win

Malt & Hops Man of the Match: Kevin Motion – a superb hard working performance from Kevin and his set piece ability setting up the first two goals.

Team: Bennett, Cennerazzo, Main, O’Donnell, MacKinnon, Motion, Grant, Whatley, Bremner (Anderson), McLeod, Brown Unused: Blaikie, Beacher, Beesley, Gilpin