16th October 2021 Easthouses Lily 1 Spartans 4

         

Hearts were playing Rangers at Ibrox today in a top of the table clash but I did not fancy going there. The Ibrox atmosphere is awful with Rangers fans throwing items down onto Hearts fans in the lower their of the stand with police and stewards taking no action. Any complaints will generally bring  response of "well you came here". I decided to try and get to a new ground today and headed out to Easthouses to watch Easthouses Lily Miners Welfare v Spartans in the South of Scotland Challenge Cup. With the game kicking off at 14.30 I caught a number 3 bus at Haymarket and arrived in Easthouses at around 14.00. As I got of the bus I saw someone wearing a Spartans jacket so followed him for the short walk to the ground. The ground is an enclosed area within a large leisure complex and offers some excellent views of the surrounding area. I paid my £3 entry and wandered into the ground. No programmes or tea sheets were available. At the entry area there are the dressing rooms, toilets and a snack bar. To the left of the entrance there is a grassy embankment with a small stand to the right. I took up position on the concrete terracing at the foot of the embankment, near the dugouts, in preparation for the kick-off. 

To be honest I knew very little about Easthouses Lily. They were founded in 1950 and have moved around The amateur and Junior ranks before joining the East of Scotland League. They are currently past of the SFA pyramid and play in Conference B of the East of Scotland League. Their most famous ex-player is probably Willie Duff who played on goal for Hearts in their 1956 Scottish Cup win before moving to Charlton Athletic. I did not recognise any of the Lily players although I later found out that centre forward Ali Elliot's son plays in the same 2012 as mu grandson. Spartans had young U20s keeper Miko Komocki in goals as Jack Newman had been recalled by his parent club Dundee United. New signing Calum Burns from Stirling University was included among the Spartans substitutes. 

The game started with Spartans doing most of the attacking. Lily captain Elliot took a really painful blow early on when a clearance by one of his own players caught him. It was a case of counting how many were there when the physio came on to treat him. Thankfully he recovered and set up a goal for Easthouses in eight minutes. It was quite amusing when the Easthouses manager shouted ‘Why did you not stop the game earlier for the head unjustly?’ To which the referee rep,ied ‘That was never a head injury’. Elliot then broke down the left and sent a pass to Cammy McBeth in the penalty area. McBeth jinked between two opponents before shooting low into the far corner giving Komocki in goal no chance. Spartans equalised four minutes later when Jamie Dishington chased a long ball from Jones down the right. He cut the ball back towards Cammy Russell who took the ball round Easthouses defender Ryan Kearney as he slipped. From about twelve yards Russell fired into the far corner. After this Spartans continued to press but did nit make many chances until just before halftime. Mikey Allan had a header from a corner locked on the line by Lewis Sives before Euan Smith turned onto another corner and forced a save from Liam Amos with a fifteen yard shot. Just before halftime Easthouses Jia Whyte was booked for a foul on Russell and Kevin Waugh forced another good save from Amos with the resultant free-kick.

Spartans brought on Gregor Woods for Ian McFarland at halftime. McFarland had been booked in the first half and was taken off as a precaution with Alan “Hovie” Brown taking over the captains armband. The second half continued much the same as the first with Spartans having the bulk of possession but unable to create clear chances. Easthouses however were dangerous on the break. Spartans finally went ahead after seventy minutes. A corner from Sam Jones was flicked on by Blair Henderson at the near post. His header came off the cross-bar to the unmarked Waugh who headed into the empty net. Spartans then brought on Sam Newman for Jones before a game changing incident in seventy-seven minutes. Whyte fouled Russell on the right hand touchline. Having been booked earlier he was already getting ready to leave the field before the referee showed a second yellow card and subsequent red. Spartans then lost substitute skipper ‘Hovie” who seemed to stand on the ball and go over his ankle before being assisted from the field and replaced by debutant Burns. Playing against ten men Spartans were quick to take advantage and scored again in eighty-four minutes. Newman and Dishington worked well down the left and Dishington passed across the penalty area to Henderson who knocked the ball into the left hand corner of the ent from around fifteen yards. The final goal of the game came with around two minutes to go. Newman broke from his own half and squared the ball as Amos came out to to challange. Despite a heavy first touch, taking him wide, Dishington knocked the ball into the empty net for a 4-1 lead to Spartans. Too be honest I felt a bit sorry for Easthouses who had competed well against a team two levels higher in the pyramid but lacked that extra class shown by Spartans in the match.

After the final whistle I walked back up to the main road and after a five minute wait caught a  back into town. There were a crowd of teenage boys sitting at the back of the bus watching games on their phones. I heard then that Hearts had equalised in the last minute at Ibrox for a 1-1 draw. Minutes later they went mental when it appeared Hearts had gone ahead in injury time. Unfortunately this was incorrect and the game ended in a draw. I got of the 3 at Bernard Terrace and walked home. i arrived back in time to watch Brentford v Chelsea on Sky. while I enjoyed the game, especially when Brentford were pressing for an equaliser late on.  it was not as good as my first trip to Easthouses.

Teams

Easthouses Lily: Amos, Smith, Whyte, Kearney, Kerr, McQueenie, Sides, McBeth, Elliot, Beattie, Taylor.

Subs: Russell, Crawford, Lennie

Spartans: Komocki, Jones, Allan, Waugh, Smith, Brown, Dishington, McFarland, Henderson, Russell, Robson

Subs: Woods, Newman, Burns.