Chills, thrills and spills as Spartans beat BSC to qualify for Cup quarters

Posted on Saturday, December 27th, 2014

Goals by Errol Douglas and Jack Beesley ensured Spartans’ qualification for the Quarter Final stages of the Sun + Lowland League Cup with a 2-1 win over BSC Glasgow at a bitterly cold Ainslie Park.

With Kevin Swain failing to recover from injury, teenager Blair Carswell retained the gloves that saw him earn the plaudits at Whitehill seven days ago whilst Keith McLeod made a return to the bench.

Before the match, the ground fell silent as supporters, players and staff paid their respects for those who died in the recent tragedy in Glasgow.

Spartans went into the game looking for a victory that would see them qualify as group winners.  Kevin Motion was the first to test BSC on their first visit to the Academy, his corner unconvincingly flapped away by Matt McGinley before hoofed to safety.

At the other end, the two Aiden’s – Malone and Ferris – contrived to get in each other’s way as they looked to open their League Cup account at the first time of asking.

Then the breakthrough the home fans were waiting for.  A fantastic run in the 15^th minute by Errol Douglas saw Davy Stewart’s header well saved by McGinley for a corner.  Beesley’s corner was finally whipped in and it was Errol Douglas who leaped above the BSC defence to head home.

Five minutes later, Aaron Murdoch clattered into the back of Beesley inside the box leaving referee David Roome with no choice but to point to the spot.  Kevin Motion stepped up, only to see McGinley correctly guess the ball’s destination to pull off the save.

Malone had a glorious opportunity to level proceedings with half an hour on the clock however he could only watch agonisingly as his lob over Carswell cleared the Spartans goal frame.

HT Spartans 1-0 BSC Glasgow

It was an early response in the second half by the visitors to pull themselves back to level pegging.

Malone saw his shot well saved by the confident Carswell however the resultant corner saw the BSC man head home from close range.

Spartans manager Dougie Samuel introduced Craig Stevenson and Keith McLeod at the expense of Davy Stewart and Kevin Motion as the home side looked to regain their goal advantage.

Christmas Day may have only been two days ago however the season of goodwill was extended by the match official who let play flow in the face of a handful of agricultural challenges, where on another day a booking or two may have been required to calm proceedings down.

BSC substitute Gary Graham was left to rue his golden opportunity to give his side the lead in the 73^rd minute when his shot from 6 yards trickled through to a grateful Carswell.

Two minutes later, it was Spartans who went on to grab what proved to be the winner.  A long clearance by Carswell fell to McLeod who laid the ball off to Douglas who took on Murdoch before drilling the ball low across the 6 yard line. The BSC keeper could only parry the cross into the path of Beesley who gratefully tapped the ball into the empty net.

With the game nearing full time, BSC launched a late attempt to secure their first point of the group stages however the acrobatics of David Cameron were penalised by Roome after his attempted overhead kick become more of a threat to the head of defender Jack Nixon than Carswell in the Spartans goal.

Full Time: Spartans 2-1 BSC Glasgow

Malt and Hops Man of the Match: John Grant

Spartans Team: Carswell, Nixon, Cennerazzo, Brown, Mackinnon, Stewart (Stevenson), Beesley, Grant, Douglas, Bremner & Motion (McLeod).  Subs (Not Used) Atkinson & Swain (GK).

In the other Central Section B encounter, Edinburgh City could only draw with Whitehill Welfare, leaving both teams on 1 point after two games, with Spartans topping the group on 9 ahead of next week’s home encounter with Welfare.