Ronnie Swan Tournament : Spartans open with win against Hearts

Posted on Saturday, July 8th, 2017

Spartans kicked off the 2017 Ronnie Swan Tournament weekend with a 1-0 win over Hearts Development courtesy of a 43rd minute Blair Atkinson penalty under a blanket of blue sky at Ainslie Park.

Both teams looked to get off to a winning start in the four-team tournament which also includes Edinburgh City and Hibernian, who played later on in the afternoon.

With a plethora of players masquerading as Trialists on both sides, the opening tie was underway at high noon.

Jack Nixon made his return to Spartans colours along with new signings Scott Wilson and Ian McFarland, whilst on the bench for the visitors were two former Spartans Youth players Michael Mbewe and Josh Grigor.

The opening quarter of the match saw lots of nice nifty play from both sets of players but neither keeper troubled.

Hearts created the first opportunity shortly after when Alistair Roy forced Blair Carswell into a save and at the other end, Cammy Logan thwarted a Spartans trialist in the throws of an attempt at goal.

The breakthrough came two minutes before the break.  A cross into the box was nudged to safety by the arm of a Hearts Trialist defender leaving Referee Duncan Smith with little confusion over awarding the spot kick.

Blair Atkinson stepped up and sent Kelby Mason the wrong way to put Spartans 1-0 up.

HT Spartans 1-0 Heart of Midlothian

There was a feeling of déjà vu in the second half as some fine play was on offer with the goalkeepers enjoying the sunshine with minimum goalmouth action being deploy as way of distraction.

The hour mark customary pre-season substitution exchange came and went as the benches narrowly fell short of having a revolving door attached.

Hearts had a chance to level proceedings late on, with Callum Morrison’s cross into the box evading the body of players in the area and whizzing out for a throw.

FT: Spartans 1-0 Heart of Midlothian