MATCH PREVIEW - THE SPARTANS (A)

It's Scottish Gas Scottish Cup time again as we head to north Edinburgh to face League One Spartans with a 3pm kick off.

The First Round game against Rutherglen Glencairn last month saw a 3-2 win at Central Park with Jamie Docherty bagging a brace along with Riley Haston.


THE OPPOSITION

Spartans debut season in the SPFL saw them finish third in last seasons League Two and after beating Peterhead they eventually lost in the promotion play off final to Dumbarton.

This season they currently sit in sixth place with ten points from their opening ten games.

They have had two wins against Bonnyrigg Rose (2-0) and Forfar Athletic (1-0) both at Ainslie Park while they have had four draws against Peterhead (0-0) at Ainslie Park and at Stranraer (2-2), Elgin City (1-1) and Clyde (1-1) on the road. Defeats have come against East Fife (0-1) and Elgin City (1-3) at home and Stirling Albion (0-1) and Edinburgh City (0-2) on their travels.

The Premier Sports Cup proved to be successful with them winning Group E with nine points from their four games. After losing their opening game 3-0 to Dunfermline Athletic they went onto beat Cove Rangers (5-0), Forfar Athletic (1-0) and Livingston (1-0). They then had a last sixteen home win beating Premiership Ross County 1-0. This led to a Quarter Final tie with Aberdeen at Pittodrie which saw the so far unbeaten Dons run out 4-0 winners.

In the SPFL Trust Trophy, they lost 2-0 to Livingston in the Third Round at Ainslie Park.


PREVIOUS SCOTTISH CUP MEETINGS

We have only met Spartans once in the cup back in season 1990-91. After the original tie was postponed, the game went ahead at a snow bound City Park on Wednesday 9th January when the game was played after the lines had been cleared and played with an orange ball with the sides fighting out a 0-0.

The replay on Monday 21st January was Gordon McDougall’s first home game after taking over as chairman and majority shareholder and a brace from Alan MacKenzie gave us a 2-0 win which led to a tie with Cove Rangers which we won 2-1 before eventually losing 5-0 to Graeme Souness’s Rangers at Ibrox.



MATCH OFFICIALS

REFEREE – Joel Kennedy

ASSISTANT REFEREES – Sean Duff & Andrew Simmonds


ADMISSION

Adults - £17 | Concessions (over 65 and 17-18) - £12 | Youth (ages 13-16) - £5 | U12 - free with a paying adult 

You can buy tickets here using Fanbase.




Previewer: Andrew Mullen.