Under 20s ahead at the halfway stage in Challenge Cup tie

Posted on Saturday, April 2nd, 2016

Les Atkinson’s Under 20s will head into their Challenge Cup 2^nd Leg against BSC Glasgow next Friday in pole position after a 3-0 victory at a windy Ainslie Park on Friday night.

The sides, who met two weeks ago in the abandoned League Cup tie following injury to keeper Cameron Rae, went head to head once again in what will be a regular occurrence throughout the month of April.

The home side got off to the perfect start after just seven minutes when Dylan Tait collected the ball in the ‘windy corner’ before he released Harry Girdwood who weaved in and out the Glaswegian defenders, like they were gates on the slalom slopes of Courchevel, before dispatching the ball low past Joe Wilton in the BSC goal.

It was almost a second shortly after when Dylan Tait’s timely cross into the box found Adam Corbett who couldn’t guide his header homewards from close range.

The match official’s decision to administer a yellow card to Wilton was a sensible one in the 20^th minute after the keeper raced out of his box before colliding with Andrew Mair.  The Spartans man, having knocked the ball past the stranded stopper, found himself looking up at the stars, upended by the goalie’s challenge.

Half Time: Spartans 1-0 BSC Glasgow

The second half threatened to be nothing more than a game for the purists as the North Edinburgh wind tunnel left both sets of players struggling to keep possession and the ball in play for large parts of the opening quarter of an hour.

The conditions almost set up a chance for Spartans to increase their advantage when Mair’s corner was whipped into the box, only for the ball to miraculously fail to land on the head of one of the plethora of bodies in the tightly packed area.

Luke Murphy squandered an ideal opportunity to equalise proceedings when he found himself in space within the home danger zone but his scuffed shot failed to trouble Morton.

Play was held up for a few minutes when Lee Cruickshanks took the match ball square on his chilly chops, forcing the BSC lad to take a few moments to gather his thoughts and get back on his feet.

With seven minutes left on the clock, it was another hit on target – and this time a knockout blow – that saw further light between the teams.  A sweeping move from defence to attack saw Girdwood hit the post only for the ball to find Jordan Brown who didn’t need a written invitation to send it back towards goal and into the net.

Brown was unluckly as the stopwatch struck ninety minutes when his effort rattled the outside face of the post however it was three minutes into injury time when Spartans secured what could be a vital extra goal courtesy of Brandon Archibald who kept his composure before drilling home from inside the penalty area.

Full Time: Spartans 3-0 BSC Glasgow