The Spartans welcome Annan Athletic to the Vanloq Community Stadium this afternoon in what will be the first time the sides will have met in League duty since 2008.
Looking ahead of this renewed rivalry, Coach Paul Thomson reflected on the busy week the squad has had, including a midweek draw against Peterhead and the task in hand against opposition of some familiarity from his time at East Fife.
“I think at this stage of the season, the games are really good to give everyone minutes because the squad have had a good pre-season and are really looking sharp, so the worst thing is the season starts, boys start to fade away because they’re not playing as much.
“These games have allowed players to come in and get minutes, which has been really, really good. And everyone that’s came in has been really positive. You can see that with the subs were making during the matches as well, that guys are coming in and making a positive impact and not just coming in and being okay.
“They’re coming in fresh with a point to prove and that’s because they’re in a good place, because they’re playing matches just now as well.”
The Spartans and Annan were East of Scotland bedfellows from 1988-2008, locking horns no fewer than 38 times, with Spartans edging the Head-To-Head with 17 wins against 9 defeats.
A lot of water under the bridge since and for Thomson, the game offers a different dynamic to most of the fixtures played so far this season.
“It’s probably a bit different from my experience of watching them previously and playing against them when I was at East Fife. However they are a strong team, so we can’t underestimate that. They’ll be a different challenge from what we faced so far however we’ll go in the game confident, but also very respectful.
“And that’s what it’s like the stage of the season. You’ve not played teams, you’re had folk watching them and maybe seen highlights in videos, but that’s not as true reflection of where they’re at. You’ve just got a small gauge, so you really have to be quite secure in how you want to play take the game to them from the first whistle.
“But yeah, we’ll go into it with our own game plan to execute and look to continue to play some of the good football that our supporters have been enjoying so far.”
Kick-off is 2pm.
