Forfar hold firm to knock out Spartans

Published on Sunday 29 November 2009 21:48

SPARTANS, it could be argued, found themselves victims of their own success on two fronts on Saturday as they acquainted themselves with the rare but harsh feeling of Scottish Cup elimination on home soil.

With half a dozen SFL scalps having been taken by the East of Scotland side in the past six years, any chance of them being considered soft touches had long since disappeared by the time their name was pulled out of the pot alongside Forfar Athletic of the Third Division.

As a result, there was never much hope of the Angus side, under the wily guidance of Dick Campbell, being afflicted by complacency, and while Spartans, after a dodgy opening 15 minutes or so, went on to boss most of the first half, it wasn't down to any lack of application on the part of the visitors.

Indeed, while Forfar found themselves on the back foot for a considerable portion of what was a freezing afternoon in north Edinburgh, it must be acknowledged that they defended superbly, attacked with more conviction than Spartans and created comfortably the more clear-cut opportunities.

While Forfar could rightly argue that they had coped well in the previously uncharted waters of Ainslie Park, they must have breathed a collective sigh of relief that their team bus was destined for Spartans' impressive new ground as opposed to the nearby City Park, that graveyard of SFL sides just a couple of hundred yards round the corner.

For all that the impressive 2,400-capacity facility – hosting its first-ever Scottish Cup tie on Saturday – is something for Spartans to be immensely proud of, it was hard to escape the notion that their new home is far less daunting for more illustrious opposition than the ramshackle City Park.

Small factors like improved changing rooms and a perfectly manicured pitch surely made this encounter a whole lot less of an ordeal for the visitors than it might have been on the City Park slope, but nevertheless there was still a considerable sense of relief evident in the Forfar camp as they emerged unscathed from a tie which held potential for hazard.

The day had got off to a harrowing start for Spartans as manager Mickey Lawson was forced to break the news to his players that one of their team-mates, David Etale, had been injured by a roadside bomb while serving in Afghanistan. "After hearing that, win, lose or draw, football was never going to be the most important thing," Lawson acknowledged.

However, they cast aside their worries to put up a stirring fight, which saw them succumb only to a moment of inspiration from David Templeman, when the giant Forfar striker jinked between a couple of Spartans defenders before prodding home the game's only goal from six yards out in 62 minutes.

The hosts felt they should have had a couple of penalties, while they certainly had the Third Division on the rack in the first half, but ultimately all they could console themselves with was the fact they had made Forfar work for their money.