The Spartans completed their pre-season hat-trick of friendlies in undefeated fashion following a 3-2 victory over a well drilled Hearts B at the Vanloq Community Stadium.
With player registrations processing inside the Hampden equivalent of the CERN supercomputer (mibbes), it was a familiar tale of Trialists by alphabetic order for this final game before the Premier Sports Cup gets underway on Saturday.
Blair Carswell returned between the sticks, whilst Saturday match winner Mark Stowe was in the starting line-up. Ayrton Sonkur returned from his erm, ‘warm weather training camp’ to take up a spot on the bench.
The game started under a blanket of sweeping rain, as is the joys of summer sport in Scotland. Spartans looked to take the game to the young Jam Tarts team, not exactly visitors of course, as they play their home games here too.
Cammy Russell was first to threaten. Like Lando Norris with DRS, he took off up the touchline before sending in a fiercely driven cross into the box which unfortunately had no takers. Play raged up the park and at the other end, Blair Carswell had to look sharp to save.
Just shy of the midway point in the first half, Hearts B took the lead – and arguably against the run of play – with Gregor Crookston’s shot ricocheting off Carswell and finding the back of the net.
Things we all square again in the 32nd minute when Mark Stowe was bundled to the ground inside the box with Referee Hogarth pointing to the spot. Cammy Russell stepped up and left Jack Lyon to collect the ball having despatched it beyond the keeper.
A frantic five minutes ensured all supporters inside the Vanloq Community Stadium had plenty to discuss at the break.
First up, Hearts regained the lead. A decent finish from Crookston doubled his tally and sent the Mini-Maroons back in front for the second time.
To paraphrase playwright Oscar Wilde, “to concede one penalty is a misfortune, to concede two is carelessness”. And with that, Spartans were awarded their second spot-kick of the evening on the stroke of half-time. This time it was Cammy Russell who was sent tumbling and after dusting himself down, made it two out of two from the twelve-yard spot.
HT: The Spartans 2-2 Hearts B
Changes at the break saw new legs entering the fray, a pair of these belonging to Brogan Walls who didn’t take long before making sure the opposition were aware of his presence.
Jamie Dishington was to come close with a run and shot from the edge of the box, the only noteworthy effort ahead of both benches emptying their subs on the hour mark.
A decent stop by Blair Carswell who fisted over the bar kept the opposition once again as play got scrappy and a couple of yellows administered as frustrations crept in.
Then, the winner. With a quarter of an hour left on the Village Hotels sponsored scoreboard, Bradley Whyte and the Trialist aka Given Ndlovu went on a weaving run inside the box before sliding the ball under the legs of the despairing defender and beyond the keeper. It must have felt like an eternity for the former Under 20s star as he looked on urging the ball to finally make its way over the line with it trundling over in slow motion.
With a pair of penalties awarded so far, there was to be no trio of awards, instead, there was a booking on offer for Mackenzie Ross for ‘simulation’ in the box.
There was almost a dramatic twist at the death which came centimetres away from sharing the spoils.
Crookson must have thought he’d claimed his match ball hat-trick game saver strike when he lobbed the advancing Carswell with the net gaping. Ah, but wait! The backtracking Ayrton Sonkur launched himself and incredibly managed to send himself into the back of the net and the ball behind for a corner instead of a certain goal.
FT: The Spartans 3-2 Hearts B
