William Hill Scottish Cup: Scott: Let’s focus on finishing business off in Banff

Posted on Friday, September 27th, 2019

Dougie Samuel’s Spartans take an unexpected detour from Lowland League duty when they make the 350 mile round trip to Banff to take on Highland League side Deveronvale in their 1st Round replay of the William Hill Scottish Cup.

The sides played out a 1-1 stalemate seven days ago at Ainslie Park with a penalty from Harry Noble penalty kick cancelling out Cameron Dawson’s strike – Spartans’ 100th goal in the competition.

Spartans will be heading up on the Friday evening in the comfort and care of Lothian Motorcoaches with an overnight stay in the Village Hotel, one of our partners this season.

The tie has shades of 2001-02 when the visiting team progressed after a replay and Aaron Scott would be delighted with a carbon copy outcome some eighteen years on.

“If I’m honest, I don’t think we weren’t really at the races last week, which was disappointing.  Certainly the Gaffer shared that opinion too and rightly so.  We know what to expect now in terms of how Deveronvale are likely to set out their stall and it’s a nice big park to play on too so hopefully we can get up there and play how we want to play.”

“We were in charge for large parts of the game last Saturday and created more chances throughout. We didn’t play well yet I still felt that we were the better team and possibly should have won. Now we have a second bite at the cherry in Banff therefore it’s important that we start well and finish off the job this time round.” 

“It’ll be interesting going up on the Friday night as it’s not something we usually do however it’s the best preparation for an important match.  Get up the night before allows you to have fresh match legs, saves a long trip in the morning and that’ll stand us in good stead ahead of kick-off.”

“Naturally these are the kind of games we want to be involved in and it’s good experience for us all too.  Highland League teams at home will be tough however we go in with a positive frame of mind and earn the win.”

Saturday’s match kicks-off at 3pm. Admission Prices: Adults £9, Concessions £5, Stand £2.

Spartan Army faithful can enjoy a drink with home supporters in the Fans Bar which is located in the stand. Our hosts plan to open it at 1.30p.m. so supporters can just head straight in and start enjoying the build up to the game!

The victors will take on League 2 outfit Queen’s Park in the 2nd Round.