21st August 2021 The Spartans 2 East Stirlingshire 3

Another game at Ainslie Park today. Looking at Futbology it would be the 100th game I have seen there and also the 75th time I have watched a Spartans game. I decided to walk to the ground and left home at 13.30 to walk down the railway path. After a nice morning the rain started as I headed to the ground. Dispute the rain I made quite good pace and arrived at 14.20. After showing my season ticket for entry I bought a £2 programme. The Spartans programme has a new editor and is much improved from previous seasons. I walked down past the front of the stand and saw that Jim and Matteo had already taken their seats. I joined them in the back row of the stand. Matteo stays in Edinburgh and is a Genoa fan although he has adopted Hearts as his Scottish side. 

Spartans are currently standing third in the Lowland League with a game in hand in those above them. In the last week they have won at Dalbeattie Star and then recovered from a 2-0 deficit to win 3-2 at Bo'ness. The home line-up was on the usual lines although I was surprised that Sam Jones did not feature in the starting eleven East Stirling (Shire) were the first team to lose an SPFL place in the place-offs. While they have always been near the top of the Lowland league this season they ate currently in mid-table (eighth).During the close seasoon they have reshaped their squad and brought in a lot of new players to replace established stars who have moved on. Jordan Tapping, Nicky Low, Ross Peggie and Sean Brown have all moved to to the SPFL while Jamie Dishington has returned to Spartans. 

The first major incident in the match came after five minutes when Spartans keeper Blair Carswell went down after an arial collision with Shire centre forward Kim Turner. I thought it was an accidental Incident but Michael Bolochoweckyj was shouting at the referee that the forward had kicked Carswell on the head and should get a red card. The picture below from the Spartans website shows this may have been a valid claim although Carswell continued after five minutes off treatment. The first goal of the game arrived just after the twenty minute mark. Jack healey broke down the right wing then cut inside. Carswell got down well to push away his shot from just outside the penalty box but could only divert the ball to Turner. The striker shot into the net from jus outside the six yard line. I think that Carswell may have done better with the initial shot if he had not been injured earlier. Spartans pressed for an equaliser and McCrory-Irving came close with a free-kick which was deflected for a corner by the Shire defensive wall. Things got worse for Spartans just before half-time when Bolochoweckyj floored Tyler Fulton with an elbow while waiting for a corner to be taken. The referee had no option than to show the Spartans defender a red card. 

The second half started with a bank with Shire scoring within a minute. Jamie Hamilton broke down the right and cut the ball back to Tuner who had an easy task to score from about eight yards out. Minutes later Dean Watson scored a third when he broke down the left wing from his own half cut into the penalty area and shot high into the net across Carswell. This was the first time Spartans had conceded three goals this season in a competitive game. The had a chance to come back after sixty eight minutes when Jamie Dishington was tripped in the penalty area. Blair Henderson took the kick but sent it high over the bar into the embankment behind the goal. After seventy three minutes Spartans made a triple change bringing on Alan Brown, Lennon Walker and Blair Atkinson. The move worked well as in seventy-three minutes Dishington ran onto a throw-in from Atkinson on the right. He went past Fulton and Andy Kay before cutting into the penalty area where he took the ball past Greg McColm before shooting past Ross Connelly into the far corner of the net. Spartans were now on all pout attack despite the one man defect and scored a second with around two minutes to go. A free-kick on the left was not cleared by the Shire defence and Dishington pounced to scored from about eight yards. despite constant pressure Spartans were unable to fashion and equaliser and Shire held on from the three points.

After the game I walked to Crewe Toll and caught a 29 to Princes Street before catching an eleven up to Fountainbridge arriving home around 17.15.

Teams

Spartans: Carswell, Herd, Allan, Waugh, Bolochoweckyj, McCrory-Irving, Dishington, McFarland, Henderson, Maxwell, Newman.

Subs: Brown, Walker, Atkinson

East Stirling: Connelly, McColm, Rodden, Kay, Fulton, Crooks, Healy, Barr, Turner, Hamilton, Watson

Subs: Trialist, Henderson, Renfrew.