Spartans aim to bounce back but students will give them a tough exam

Spartans aim to bounce back from their 1-1 at Vale of Leithen when they host Heriot-Watt University in the Central Taxis Premier Division at Ainslie Park tonight, kick-off 7.45pm.

Spartans are unbeaten in the league although they have drawn two of their three fixtures and manager Douglas Samuel reflected on the weekend’s game by saying: “Sometimes it’s easy to say that we didn’t play well but that would be disrespectful to the side that Fraser [Ogilvie] and Kerr [Dodds] have built. In short Vale did not allow us to play although in patches we did fine and we created chances.

“Heriot-Watt will be desperate to bounce back after dropping at the weekend. It will be another tough test for us.”

Samuel has Willie Bremner available after missing out on Saturday because of suspension while he is also hopeful that Keith McLeod, Alasdair MacKinnon and Jonny Seeley may return after injuries.

Heriot-Watt were beaten 2-0 by Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale on Saturday and head coach Michael Renwick said: “I’m still scratching my head as to how we lost on Saturday 
considering the chances we created and then missed. That is something we are working hard to rectify because it was frustrating to come away with nothing.

“However, tonight has come along very quickly and we are looking forward to playing Spartans and I am looking for the same attitude as we showed at the weekend as long as we do not concede goals that are avoidable and take our chances. Playing Spartans is another notch up and although we are enjoying playing at this level after our promotion last season we could be doing better. I have options to change things around and I will.”

Renwick has Simon Ferrie and Aaron James both in contention after being unavailable on Saturday and Chris Donnelly could also be in line for a start.