Spartans see off Star in first game at Ainslie Park

Published on Wednesday 31 December 2008 09:10

SPARTANS continued their preparations for their Homecoming Scottish Cup fourth-round tie against Airdrie United with a 2-0 win against Newtongrange Star.

Last night's friendly was also Spartans' first fixture on their state-of-the-art field turf at their new Soccer Academy at Ainslie Park. Both clubs were keen to keep their players ticking over during the enforced break and they produced an entertaining game in front of a sizeable crowd.

Spartans started the game firing on all cylinders and took the lead in the tenth minute with a superbly-worked goal. Omar Kader evaded two tackles in midfield and sprayed the ball wide to Nicky Walker on the right and his accurate cross to the front post was stroked into the net by Daryl Devlin. Alex King hit a shot over the bar and Devlin had another fine effort well saved by Chris Hill while Star's best attempt was an Alan Wilson header which rebounded from the crossbar with Chris Flockhart beaten.

Star were more competitive in the second half and, after striker Grant Meaney was brought down 20 yards from goal by Spartans captain Stewart Fowlie, Alan Brown fired the resultant free kick inches wide of the upright. Wilson then spurned another golden opportunity when he shot past from a good position.

However, it was Spartans who sealed the victory when midfield player Alex King found himself in space 25 yards from goal and calmly lobbed the ball over the keeper and into the net.

Spartans introduced two trialists to their line-up at half-time with a Kenyan internationalist and a Korean player showing their talents.

Mike Lawson, Spartans joint manager, said: "It was definitely a worthwhile exercise because we do not have any league games before we play Airdrie on Saturday week. That was one of my worries but last night's game was played at a good pace and it was a great workout against a top Junior side. The score was not important - the main thing was to give players valuable competitive minutes."

Star manager Graeme Armstrong added: "That was much better than training because we did not have a game at the weekend and we play Fauldhouse this coming Saturday. We missed a lot of chances – in fact, too many – and it was also a good test for us defensively"