Mark Stowe was the toast of the home support inside The Vanloq Community Stadium after his second half strike against Peterhead was enough to separate the sides.
There was a decidedly fresh feeling across North Edinburgh ahead of kick-off as both teams were led out by a trio of mascots Oli, Logan and the big fella up on his stag weekend all the way from Devon, Jonny Bywaters.
Peterhead were looking to make it a full suite of wins to kick off 2025 whilst an unbeaten start to the year was top of Douglas Samuel’s agenda after a tough midweek tussle at Bonnyrigg ended 2-2.
Kieran Watson made a welcome returned to the squad whilst Blair Henderson joined him amongst the busy bench for this SPFL 2 clash.
The opening quarter of an hour failed to offer much in the way of opportunity for the near 400 supporters inside The Vanloq Community Stadium to warm their hands with applause on a bitterly cold afternoon.
Then, in the 18th minute, confusion reigned when Peterhead thought they’d snatched an opener courtesy of Jack Brown. As the Blue Toon player’s name echoed around the PA speakers and the tourists trickled back to half way, Referee Alastair Grieve and his Assistant Tommi Kerr engaged in a discussion which concluded with the decision overturned for offside.
A couple of corners for the visitors followed however Blair Carswell was there to mop up and the scores remained level as the game trundled towards the interval.
HT: The Spartans 0-0 Peterhead
Mark Stowe looked to benefit from a suboptimal clearance by Peterhead keeper Blessing Oluyemi and attempted an audacious long-range return which was to drift wide of the goal.
The game continued to play out by way of a proverbial arm-wrestle as both sides cancelled each other out and the deadlock remained.
That was until sixty minutes appeared on the Village Hotels sponsored scoreboard and Cometh the hour, cometh the Mark Stowe.
Oluyemi’s clearance found Lewis Hunter on half way who headed back up field to James Craigen. His first time one touch pass found Mark Stowe who just about managed to stay onside before completing the move and slotting the ball home.
Before the restart, there was a triple change in the home ranks with Stowe, Arran Scott and Brogan Walls retiring and Blair Henderson, Jamie Dishington and Liam Morgan entering the field in their place.
Kieran Watson made a welcome return from injury when he came on for the final quarter of an hour.
Josh Lain was unfortunate not to double the lead with a well-timed leap and header from a corner, then Cammy Russell coming close as he forced Oluyemi into a save.
The final five minutes seemed to last an eternity for everyone in Spartans colours with the Peterhead bench emptied and a siege of the Spartans box seeing shots blocked by a sea of desperate defensive limbs in the box.
With almost the full compliment of injury time complete, one last throw of the Peterhead dice saw the goalie up for a brace of corners and even more nail-bitingly so, Seb Ross sending an effort inches wide with the last kick of the ball.
Squeekybumtime for Spartans but three vital points hard earned.
FT: The Spartans 1-0 Peterhead
Malt & Hops Man of the Match: Josh Laing
