Lowland League: Curtain comes down with defeat against Dalbeattie

Posted on Sunday, April 23rd, 2017

Spartans finished their Lowland League campaign in third place despite a disappointing 1-2 last day defeat at home to Dalbeattie Star at Ainslie Park.

Dougie Samuel was forced into a change between the sticks ahead of the match against the Dumfries side with Ross Gilpin deputising for the injured Blair Carswell whilst there was a return to the starting line-up for striker Jack Hay.

Despite it being an end of season encounter, there was no shortage of robust challenges as both sets of players set out to dispel any rumours of this being a dead rubber tie.

With twenty minutes on the clock, it was the home side who took a deserved lead.  Enterprising play by Craig Stevenson opened up a gap to send Ross Allum into the Star penalty box before unleashing an unstoppable drive that crashed into the net in off the base of Graham Wright’s inside post.

Igor Gabiola who had counted himself unlucky to earn a caution earlier in proceedings was in the thick of the early action and his powerful strike saw Wright pull one off for the cameras with a fine save.

It was to be the Spartans’ playmaker’s final involvement in the game as he failed to recover from a challenge that was perhaps left the visitors fortunate to continue with a full compliment on the park.

Somewhat against the run of play, Dalbeattie went into the interval on level terms.  Gilpin, largely a spectator from the Pilton Drive end was beaten by a well executed free-kick by Lewis Sloan who found the postage stamp from the edge of the box.

Having scored five minutes before the break, Star perfected their recovery by taking the lead in the same timeframe after.  A ‘Garry Owen’ up and under into the home penalty area saw Gilpin outjumped in an aerial assault and Tommy Muir was on hand to slot home the spillage into an empty net.

Teenage replacement Johnny Grotlin was close to scoring, with his attempt pinging around like a pinball amongst a plethora of legs in the Dalbeattie box.

Then, with two minutes left on the clock, Jack Beesley was upended on the edge of the box.  Scott Maxwell could only look on in sheer frustration as his dead ball effort beat the wall, but only for it to hit the inside of Wright’s post and race away to safety.

Final Score: Spartans 1-2 Dalbeattie Star

Teams: Spartans: Gilpin, Brown, Stevenson, Gabiola (Dishington), Tolmie, Greenhill, Beesley, Comrie (Grotlin), Allum, Hay (Maxwell), Townsley.  Subs (Unused) Saunderson.

Dalbeattie Star: Wright, Murray, Thorburn, Todd, Maxwell, Baty, McHarrie, Dunglinson, Muir, Sloan, Brotherston (Slattery).  Subs (Unused) Wells, Wison, Park, Slattery, Anderson.