As Spartans prepare to welcome Clydebank to the Vanloq Community Stadium on Saturday for their next pre-season test, James Craigen sat down to reflect on a busy week, the demands of pre-season, and the importance of momentum heading into the new campaign.
Fresh from Tuesday night’s tough outing against SPFL Championship side Ayr United, Craigen admitted the squad felt the effects of their opening ninety minutes of pre-season action — in a good way.
“Not sure about the other lads, but I definitely slept well on Tuesday night,” he laughed. “It was our first game of pre-season, and although we’d done a lot of hard work at training in the two weeks leading up to the game, there’s nothing quite like getting back into a match environment. After 90 minutes, you certainly feel it — but that’s what it’s all about.”
The win against Ayr United was an ideal way to begin the extensive 2025/26 campaign, but Craigen is quick to point out that pre-season is about much more than results.
“You can’t read too much into any one game,” he said. “You’re only as good as your next one. And for us, that’s Clydebank — a team on the up and with plenty of quality.”
Clydebank, recently promoted and winners of their league in convincing fashion, represent another stern test. But it’s exactly the kind of challenge Craigen welcomes.
“They did really well last season and came up comfortably. They’ve got some very good players — lads that some of the boys in our changing room know and who’ve played at a higher level. It’ll definitely be competitive, and that’s what you want at this stage. For us, it’s about applying the stuff we’re working on in training, but also getting minutes in the legs and building match sharpness ahead of the Premier Sports Cup and into the SPFL 2 campaign.”
The Clydebank game is followed by one final warm-up next week — a home outing against a Hearts XI — and Craigen sees that match as another crucial piece of the pre-season puzzle.
“Every friendly has to take us forward. It’s not just about fitness, it’s about putting down a performance too — building on what we’ve done already. The Hearts game is our final chance to do that before the competitive stuff starts. We’ll be treating it like that.”
With the new campaign stretching across a demanding ten-month calendar and no winter break in sight, Craigen also emphasised the need for the full squad to be ready from day one.
“It’s a long season. It always is, but even more so now. There’s no winter break, even for Premiership clubs — and certainly not for us. So we’ll need everyone fit, everyone sharp, and we’ll need to use the whole squad wisely. That starts now.”
Kick-off against Clydebank at 3pm. The Cafe/Bar is open from 1.45pm following the turnstiles ready for entry. Tickets can be purchased in advance via Fanbase or supporters can PATG.
