Under 20s frozen out by late Preston equaliser

Posted on Saturday, January 16th, 2016

The Under 20s of Spartans and Preston Athletic got 2016 under way with a share of the spoils in a 2-2 draw at a bitterly cold Ainslie Park.

With 13 goals from the opening two games between the sides this season so far, Friday night’s encounter was guaranteed goals and it was the home side that opened the scoring in the 9^th minute.

Jonny Grotlin got one over his home town opponents after despatching the ball into the back of the net from inside the box after a neat touch and finish.

At the other end, a Greg Binnie header from six yards out somehow failed to put Preston on level terms as the Panners player contrived to send his attempt wide.

The temperature may have dipped in the North Edinburgh arena however the mercury was rising in the visitors dug out and Referee Burton invited one of the talkative tracksuited tenants for a cool down chat.

Whilst panic ensued on the balcony as Twitter ‘went down’ for a brief spell, Jamie Dishington was keeping his composure at the back post to head home an Andrew Mair corner that had evaded the crowded penalty area.

HT: Spartans u20s 2-0 Preston Athletic u20s

The East Lothian side came out of the traps for the second half looking for an early opportunity to pull back the deficit.  Just like their hosts in the opening stanza, it took nine minutes to score.

The home keeper pulled off one of a handful of decent saves to divert a shot round the post however the resultant corner by David Porcher was powerfully headed home by Gavin Stevenson.

Morton’s counterpart Forsyth was then called into action to deny the energetic Grotlin from restoring his side’s two goal advantage with a fine stop.

Then, with just three minutes of regulation time left on the clock, up stepped Nick Thomson who unleashed a low and hard 25 yard strike that whizzed past a plethora of bodies to give the unsighted Spartans goalie little chance to get react in time to deny the equaliser.

Both teams huffed and puffed as they looked to grab the winner however after a full five minutes of added time, Referee Burton blew his whistle one final time and signalled towards the most welcoming of warm showers.

FT: Spartans u20s 2-2 Preston Athletic u20s