6th July 2022 The Spartans 0 Hearts 1

First view of Hearts this season although they played a testimonial at East Fife last night. I could not be bothered travelling for that game but Ainslie Park is only a short distance from home. As I had walked quite a distance  today I decided to get a bus to the ground. I walked to Tollcross and caught a bus to Morrisons at Ferry Road whereI got off and walked down the hill to Ainslie Park. I arrived around 19.15 and showed my season ticket pass for entry. No programmes were availabe but I got a team sheet for 50p. Team sheets are normally free at Spartans matches and I thought it was a bit much to be charging when the match was only a pre-season friendly. I met Jim in the ground and we wandered down to our normal stance, on the grassy embankment, at the Pilton end of the ground looking across the pitch. We were joined by Alex just as the game was about to kickoff.

Spartans made a few changes from the last time i saw them against East Fife with Jordan Tapping, Scott Maxwell and Blair Henderson dropping out of the starting eleven and being repealed by Chris Inglis, Sean Brown and Gregor Woods. Tapping appeared to injure a hamstring against East Fife and is partly being rested. Henderson and Maxwell dropped to the bench alongside the returning Jamie Dishington and four trialists. Hearts fielded a strong side with new signings Lewis Neilson (from Dundee United) and Alan Forrest (Livingston) both included in the starting lineup. Craig Gordon was being given an extended break after playing for Scotland following the end of Hearts season and Harry Stone started in goal. New signing Jorge Grant (Peterborough) was on the bench along with two trialists. One was Joe Wright who Hearts were interested in signing lfor last season. He had however sustained a bad injury in his last match for Doncaster and is now a free agent, after a year recuperatiing,with Hearts looking to sign him if he can prove his fitness. The other Trialist was, I understand, Jaden Ferguson, a former Celtic B striker, who spent last season at Lochee. Three of the Hearts squad, Stone, Cameron Logan and Finlay Pollock had previously played for Spartans at youth level. 

Hearts had most of the early possession and took the lea in  ten minutes. Andy Halliday paused forward to Cammy Devlin in the penalty area. His shot from about ten yards was blocked by Blair Carswell in the Spartans goal but the rebound fell to Euan Henderson who shot into the empty net. Josh Ginnelly was looking lively on there right wing and provided chances for both Henderson and Devlin but neither player was able to hit the target with shots flying wide. Ginnelly then decided to have a go himself and worked his way past two defenders in the penalty box. His shot was blocked by Carswell to prevent a second goal. At halftime we looked to move to the goal at the cafe end of the ground as Hearts would be attacking that end in the second. We followed a number of other people towards the barrier at the far side of the pitch at the cafe end. A steward then came over and said no-one could stand there ‘for the players safety’ and we had to move back to the other side of the pitch. I could not understand the reasoning given all legal Covid restrictions have now been lifted and I am unaware of any other ground where this type of restriction applies. Nevertheless we followed the instructions and ended very up back where we were for the first half. 

Connor Smith came close early in the second half with a shot which went past the far post. Halliday then tried a hot from outside the box which landed on the top of the net. Unfortunately is was the net over the top of the training pitch behind the goal. On the hour mark Hearts manager Robbie Neilson made ten changes replacing all the outfield players. The changes did not help the continuity of the game an while Hearts had most of  the possession they were unable o create chances with Spartans defending well. Sean Brown had a chance for Spartans when a pass fell to him in the Hearts penalty box. He was however unable to control the ball and the Hearts defence cleared. farewell then managed to lock a shot from Hearts trails centre forward before the referee blew the final whistle. The match proved a good workout forth sides and will help with match fitness for the season ahead. I was particularly impressed by Neilson in the Hearts defence who defended well and was also breaking forward when required with some excellent passing to his team mates.

After the final whistle I parted company from Jim and Alex in the car park and walked up to Ferry Road. With the earlier kickoff at 19.30 I had only four minutes to wait for a 27 bus which got me home just before 22.00

Teams

Spartans FC: Carswell, Herd, Swann, Inglis, Waugh, Woods, Armstrong, McFarland, Brown, Jones, Whyte. 

Subs: Maxwell, Trialist, Henderson, Penker, Trialist, Dishington, Trialist, Trialist.

Hearts: Stone, Forrest, Halliday, Logan, Sibbick, Neilson, Ginnelly, McEnneff, Henderson,
Devlin, C.Smith. 

Subs: Trialist, Cochrane, Trialist, Grant, Boyce, Kingsley, Pollock, Denholm, Darge, Haring.