18th November 2017 The Spartans v Fraserburgh 1-2
With Hearts not playing until tomorrow, assuming the new stand passes building control, I decided to go to the Scottish Cup tie this round at Ainslie Park. The Hearts stand saga took a further twist earlier this week when it was announced that the Council had not issued the necessary certificates to allow the stand to be used on Sunday. Work has been going on during the week and at times carried on into the night to allow the necessary permissions to be received, without which Sundays game v Patrick Thistle may be required to be postponed. A decision is expected to be made sometime today.
The game at Ainslie Park should be good with Spartans third in the Lowland League and Fraserburgh top of the Highland League. Having not seen Fraserburgh play until the previous round of the Cup at Edinburgh University I will now be seeing them twice in six weeks. As usual I walked to Ainslie Park arriving about 30 minutes before the kick-off. My season ticket is not valid for Scottish Cup ties so I paid £8 to get in. Once inside I bought two programmes, the second for Jim who is attending the Wales v Georgia rugby international but asked me to get a programme for his collection. Inside the ground the cafe/bar was only available to hospitality ticket holders so I contented myself with a coffee and watched the players warming up.
The game began wth a chance for Fraserburgh within two minutes when Paul Campbell broke down the right and fired a shot across goal. No other Broch forwards had kept up with his run and were unable to tap the ball home with the shot ended up going out of play for a throw-in. The town of Fraserburgh is generally known as the Broch however the Fraserburgh fans cheering them on refer to them as the Burgh. No idea why this is and it is maybe a question for greater minds than mine.Thereafter Spartans took control with Craig "Grinchy" Stevenson and Ross Allum particularly prominent. Grinchy was overlapping from left back and sending good crosses into the Fraserburgh area in addition to cutting inside on occasions. Allum had an excellent game today with with his holding up play and getting into good scoring positions. After shots from Allum and Dishington sailed over the bar Spartans took the lead in 13 minutes. A pass from David Greenhill beat the offside trap and picked up a run from Jamie Dishington into the Fraserburgh penalty area, Dishington sclaffed his shot but it beat Peter Tait in the Broch goal. Shortly thereafter a shot from Michael Herd from outside the area was turned over the bar by Tait. Spartans continued on top although Fraserburgh came more into the game after about half an hour. As there are no 'plastic' pitches in the Highland League perhaps it took them time to settle to the surface. Shortly before halftime Allum hit the bar with a header. He followed this up by a run across the Fraserburgh area beating three players but his shot was well saved by Tait.
The second half started with a penalty being awarded to Fraserburgh. Grinchy was adjudged to have impeded William West in the box. It was one of these penalties where only the referee sees it, however Campbell brought Fraserburgh level from the spot to the joy of their fans. Given Grinchy was not even booked for the foul it can be seen that the penalty was of the soft variety. Fraserburgh had brought on Aidan Combe at halftime and he was causing the Spartans defence problems with strong running down the right hand side of their defence. Spartans brought on Blair Atkinson after 70 minutes and his speed and ball control created a couple of chances. As time was running out and a replay seemed certain Fraserburgh won a corner which was slung into the box. Andrew Stobie in the Spartans goal made a mess of cutting out the cross which fell at the feet of Brian Hay six yards out who shot into an empty net. As there was only a minute plus injury time left the Fraserburgh side went wild with their celebrations with Peter Tait running from his goal to join his teammates mobbing the goalscorer near the Spartans goalline. Fraserburgh held out thereafter and their fans cheered their side off the pitch prior to heading off for the long journey back to the Broch.
I had less of a journey home as I walked up to Ferry Road to catch a 27 bus home. I them settled down to watch the Scotland rugby side endure another gallant failure to beat New Zealand.
Teams
The Spartans:Scobie, Thomson, Stevenson, Nixon, Tolmie, Greenhill, Dishington, Herd, Allum, MacFarland, Brown
Subs: Atkinson
Fraserburgh:Tait, Davidson, Hay, R. Cowie, Christie, D. Cowie, Beagrie, West, Campbell, Young, Rae
Subs: Combe, Buchan
The game began wth a chance for Fraserburgh within two minutes when Paul Campbell broke down the right and fired a shot across goal. No other Broch forwards had kept up with his run and were unable to tap the ball home with the shot ended up going out of play for a throw-in. The town of Fraserburgh is generally known as the Broch however the Fraserburgh fans cheering them on refer to them as the Burgh. No idea why this is and it is maybe a question for greater minds than mine.Thereafter Spartans took control with Craig "Grinchy" Stevenson and Ross Allum particularly prominent. Grinchy was overlapping from left back and sending good crosses into the Fraserburgh area in addition to cutting inside on occasions. Allum had an excellent game today with with his holding up play and getting into good scoring positions. After shots from Allum and Dishington sailed over the bar Spartans took the lead in 13 minutes. A pass from David Greenhill beat the offside trap and picked up a run from Jamie Dishington into the Fraserburgh penalty area, Dishington sclaffed his shot but it beat Peter Tait in the Broch goal. Shortly thereafter a shot from Michael Herd from outside the area was turned over the bar by Tait. Spartans continued on top although Fraserburgh came more into the game after about half an hour. As there are no 'plastic' pitches in the Highland League perhaps it took them time to settle to the surface. Shortly before halftime Allum hit the bar with a header. He followed this up by a run across the Fraserburgh area beating three players but his shot was well saved by Tait.
The second half started with a penalty being awarded to Fraserburgh. Grinchy was adjudged to have impeded William West in the box. It was one of these penalties where only the referee sees it, however Campbell brought Fraserburgh level from the spot to the joy of their fans. Given Grinchy was not even booked for the foul it can be seen that the penalty was of the soft variety. Fraserburgh had brought on Aidan Combe at halftime and he was causing the Spartans defence problems with strong running down the right hand side of their defence. Spartans brought on Blair Atkinson after 70 minutes and his speed and ball control created a couple of chances. As time was running out and a replay seemed certain Fraserburgh won a corner which was slung into the box. Andrew Stobie in the Spartans goal made a mess of cutting out the cross which fell at the feet of Brian Hay six yards out who shot into an empty net. As there was only a minute plus injury time left the Fraserburgh side went wild with their celebrations with Peter Tait running from his goal to join his teammates mobbing the goalscorer near the Spartans goalline. Fraserburgh held out thereafter and their fans cheered their side off the pitch prior to heading off for the long journey back to the Broch.
I had less of a journey home as I walked up to Ferry Road to catch a 27 bus home. I them settled down to watch the Scotland rugby side endure another gallant failure to beat New Zealand.
The Spartans:Scobie, Thomson, Stevenson, Nixon, Tolmie, Greenhill, Dishington, Herd, Allum, MacFarland, Brown
Subs: Atkinson
Fraserburgh:Tait, Davidson, Hay, R. Cowie, Christie, D. Cowie, Beagrie, West, Campbell, Young, Rae
Subs: Combe, Buchan
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