26th March 2022 The Spartans 1 Bo’ness United 3

 

We now have another international break and Hearts are again sending players to play fir their country. Craig Gordon and Craig Halkett are away with the Scotland squad while Nat Atkinson is in the Australian squad. With no Hearts game I eventually decided to go and watch Spartans v Bo’ness United in the Lowland League Cup. I left home at 14.30 for a leisurely walk down the old railway path to Ainslie Park. The weather was great and I arrived at the ground after about an hours walking. I showed my season ticket for entry and purchased a £2 programme before meeeting Jim at the fence towards the cafe end of the ground. 

Spartans had Alan Brown back in the side at centre half. Ryan Finnie has left to play in Australia so ‘Hovie’ has come back from injury in central defence. Upfront Cammy Russell was benched with Craig Brown, on loan from Montrose until the end of the season, filling his role on the left up front. Bo’ness are mid-table in the Lowland League but have some excellent players. Danny Galbraith started of with Hearts and has also played with Manchester United and Hibs along with a number of English sides on loan. Nicky Locke, formerly with Broxburn and Ryan Stevenson, a former Hearts Junior player, are also good players at this level.

Spartans had a good early chance when Jamie Dishington hit a volley from the edge o the penalty area. His shot crashed of the frame of the goal before being cleared by the Bo’ness defence.There was a strange incident when Spartans Michel Herd went to take a thrown-in in front of the Bo’ness dugout and clashed with the Bo’ness manager Max Christie. Paers and a clipboard went flying before the referee took action. Herd was yellow carded while Christie received a red card and had to leave the bench. Christie took a seat of the steps of new stand under construction alongside the dugouts. Bo’ness keeper Ryan Adams did well to stop a Scott Maxwell cross reaching Blair Henderson in the centre of the goal before Bo’ness took the led after around fifteen minutes. Good work on the right by Keiran Mitchell allowed him to pass to Gregor Nicol just inside the penalty area. He fired a shot high into the top corner of the net past the despairing Jack Newman in the Spartans goal. Th game was hen fought out in midfield with neither side making any further clear chances when Spartans Bradley Whyte hit a shot against the post from twenty-five yards/ The ball rebound into the centre of the penalty area but no Spartans player could get a touch to put them in the lead again.

At the start of the secong half Spartans brought on Russel for Sam Jones to give them a better attacking option. I liked Jones as a player at Penicuik but he appears to have lost his form after  his move to Spartans. Spartans were pushing forward in the second half and a deserved equaliser arrived after fifty-three minutes. A corner from the left taken by Dishington found Kevin Waugh unmarked on the edge of the six yard box and he headed the ball home. I think the Bo’ness defenders were distracted by watching the towering Blair Henderson leaving Waugh unmarked. Bo’ness however restored their advantage eleven minutes later with an excellent team goal. Locke from the left hand side sent an excellent thirty yard pass to Galbraith on the right. The winger took an first touch to contriol the ball and then as he entered the penalty box shot across New man into the far corner of the net. Spartans then made anther four substitutions bringing on Callum Burns, Ian McFarland, Alan Smith and Sam Newman but were unable t force any clear chances. With six minutes to go Bo’ness sealed their victory with another goal from Nicol. A short corner was played to Stevenson who played the ball into the box for Nicol to fire home from about fifteen yards as he fell under a defenders challenge. The final whistle let Bo’ness and Edinburgh University qualifying for the next round with Spartans and local rivals Civil Service Strollers failing to move forward. 

After the final whistle I walked up to Ferry Road to catch a 27 bus and force once had only minutes to wait before arriving home around 17.30.

Teams

The Spartans: j. Newman, Herd, Maxwell, Waugh, A.Brown, Whyte, Dishington, Caves, Henderson, Jones, C. Brown

Subs: Russell, Burns, McFarland, Smith, S. Newman

Bo'ness United: Adamson, Stevenson, Hunter, Hawkins, Jacobs, Nicol, Galbraith, Gemmell, Walker, Locke, Mitchell.

Subs: Flynn