Spartans aim to pull clear in City Park's swansong

Published on Friday 15 May 2009 10:01

THE race for the Premier Division title is down to the last two laps and Spartans are in the driving seat.

With their only challengers for the crown, Dalbeattie Star – on cup duty tomorrow and with only one league game left – the City Park side are determined to take advantage by garnering all three points from visitors Edinburgh City tomorrow and cementing their position in top spot.

The term "City Park side" is shortly to become redundant of course, with the game due to be the final Spartans league fixture before the club make the short hop across Pilton Drive and into their new home at Ainslie Park. The final piece of the jigsaw in the Spartans Football Academy will then fall into place next season with the team playing from a new floodlit grass pitch.

If Mike Lawson's side do not do the job tomorrow there promises to be a nerve-jangling trip south to Islecroft Stadium in Dalbeattie next Saturday with a winner-takes-all game in prospect.

Victory against Edinburgh City, coupled with Spartans' superior goal difference, could help make that long journey rather more palatable.

And City are unlikely to roll over and give Spartans an easy afternoon. The clubs' traditional rivalry – City in fact used to play at the ground until 1955 – plus a desire to end their league campaign in the top half of the table means a tough game is in prospect.

Lawson, the Spartans co-manager, knows City will provide a stern challenge for his side. "City are our biggest Edinburgh rivals and only recently beat Whitehill Welfare 5-0 then Whitehill came to City Park and drew 1-1 with us," he explained.

"Last Saturday, we beat Easthouses Lily 3-0 and I was delighted with our performance because we had a game plan which was to play with three big guys up front and it worked. If I was going to be pernickety then it would be to say that when Easthouses went down to ten men then we should have scored more goals. That might have helped us before we go down to Dalbeattie although our primary aim was a win to keep us top of the league and we achieved that."

Lawson is not keen to dwell on the historical aspect of tomorrow's clash. "I never played at City Park and I am hoping that my players can ignore all the nostalgia that will be going on around them," he said. "We have to try to win the game to allow us to go to Dalbeattie with as many advantages as possible. A draw does us no good whatsoever.

"Our effort and commitment over the past few weeks has been superb and Sam Lynch (co-manager] and myself could not have asked for any more from our players, even when we were beaten 4-2 by Lothian Thistle."

Spartans will miss their leading goalscorer Keith McLeod, who is suspended for their last two games of the season while fellow striker Daryl Devlin is unavailable. Scorer of two goals last weekend against Easthouses, penalty-box predator McLeod will be sorely missed and the responsibilities for scoring will fall on the likes of Struan Preston, Alex King and the on-form David Etale. Captain Stewart Fowlie is likely to return to the starting line-up after a subs' appearance last week and attacking midfielder Omar Kader could also start.

Meanwhile, in the City dressing room, captain Ross Macnamara is hoping that his team can finish the season on a high note. "It has been a disappointing season which promised so much at the beginning," he admitted.

"The sale of striker Robbie Ross to Arbroath at the beginning of January definitely changed our season. Robbie could make a goal out of nothing and he proved just how big a player he was for us because his loss has put stress on the rest of the team. On top of that our squad has not been big enough and we have been down to the bare bones on a few occasions.

"I genuinely thought that we would be challenging for honours on all fronts and we proved that we were capable of doing that when we went to Wick Academy from the Highland League and beat them (4-1]. It showed what we could do when all of our players were prepared and showed the right attitude. Inconsistency has made our season very frustrating.

"All of our players should be going into tomorrow's game against Spartans determined to win and show that they are good enough to compete with one of the top teams.

"There will be a perverse glory in ruining the title aspirations of another club.

"As a Hearts supporter it would be similar to what Dundee did to Hearts in the last game of the 1985/86 season by beating them and denying Hearts the championship!"

Kenny Ross is likely to miss the match through illness and striker Peter Stenhouse is doubtful with a knee injury which could mean a call-up for Ross Guthrie from the highly-rated Under-19 side.

"We will go to City Park with positive minds and nobody should be playing with any fears," added Macnamara. "We have to work hard when we do not have the ball and when we have it we may have to take risks to turn the game in our favour."

The action kicks off at 2.30 pm with admission prices, 4 for adults and 2 for concessions.

&#149 EDINBURGH CITY defender John Hall has been transfer listed and any club requiring further information should contact manager Shaun Steven on 07939 542752.