Spartans grant students respect as Stirling look to bridge gap in final

SPARTANS, who retained the SFA South Region Challenge Cup with a 3-1 victory over Gretna 2008 at Tynecastle on Thursday, are on final duty again tomorrow when they meet the new kids on the block, Stirling University, in the King Cup.

The Ainslie Park club have already been crowned Central Taxis Premier Division champions, while tomorrow's opponents gained the same accolade in the First Division to set up an intriguing encounter.

Mike Lawson, Spartans' joint manager, reflected on the cup win against Gretna by saying: "We defended magnificently for 87 minutes then lost a sloppy goal.

"Overall, I was really pleased because, for long periods, especially in the first half, Gretna had the ball and passed it well.

"I thought the game was a good advert for East of Scotland League football and now we move on to the second game in our trilogy of cup finals."

Spartans beat Stirling University 2-1 last month in the semi-final of the Challenge Cup with goals from Omar Kader and Ross Archibald. Lawson is expecting another close match tomorrow.

He said: "It was a tight game in which their goalkeeper, Sam Filler, was magnificent.

"Stirling came back into the game and it could easily have gone to extra time.

"We are not yet sure what the final against Gretna has taken out of our players' legs so we may make one or two changes.

"We will definitely not be picking the same side.

"Stirling have several players on football scholarships and, like Gretna, they are all young, athletic and enthusiastic.

"They have some of their boys training for four days a week and they could be a significant club for many years to come.

"They have already won a very difficult league and we are preparing for a totally different game on the tighter park at Rosewell, a place where we have not played particularly well in the past two seasons.

"We have a really good bunch of players but we know that we will have to play at our best because big games take it out of players both physically and mentally.

"The Stirling coach, Raleigh Gowrie, who was previously with Spartans, will certainly know what we have to offer and he watched us against Gretna on Thursday evening."

Gowrie, meanwhile, summed up Spartans' performance by saying: "I thought that it was not a bad game which Spartans controlled, although Gretna tried to play football but always reached an impasse.

"Although Spartans got their goals cheaply, they deserved their victory. The harsh reality is that they could have won by five or six goals."

Gowrie praised his former club, saying: "Nobody can question the quality of Spartans, who have won the league by a record fifteen points and the league table never lies.

"The league positions of the respective clubs suggest that Stirling are eleven places below Spartans but I don't believe that and think that we are much closer.

"When we played them recently it was an even contest for long periods and we have used the game as a yardstick to see how far off the pace we were, although there is definitely not a large chasm.

"We are going to have to be clever and astute with our tactics.

"We need to be creative in terms of breaking down the Spartans defence which very rarely makes mistakes.

"They also have a big squad which can cope with the demands of the season.

"I don't think that Stirling are too far behind and, if we play to the best of our abilities, then it could be a cagey game. It may not be as open and free flowing as our first game against them.

"We need to nullify their many strengths. Our students will certainly not be scared of the occasion after gaining a lot of credibility from that earlier meeting."

Stirling have – for the first time this season – a full squad to choose from with Swiss star Abraham Keller in goalscoring form with six goals in his last three games.

• TOMORROW'S action kicks off at 2.00pm at Ferguson Park, Rosewell, with admission 5 for adults and 2 for concessions.