After an impressive debut day draw performance against Clyde, Douglas Samuel’s Spartans head west where they face Dumbarton in their inaugural away trip in cinch SPFL 2.

Jamie Dishington’s second half equaliser earned the new kids on the SPFL block a share of the spoils and the Ainslie Park men will be looking to take that performance on the road to the Rock against last season’s runners-up.

With no midweek games, the squad have had two solid sessions on the training paddock in preparation for Saturday’s clash, with Rhys Armstrong set to notch up his half century of appearances should he appear against the Sons.

It’s only the second time the sides have met in a competitive fashion.  Last time out saw the teams meet in the then BetFred Cup in a warm summer’s day in North Edinburgh.  It was a day where defences were on top with both keeper’s unbeaten over ninety minutes ahead of a spot kick shoot out to decide the recipient of the bonus point.

Three players from that game are likely to be in the travelling Spartans squad from that tie back in 2018.  Blair Carswell, Jamie Dishington and Alan Brown have a remarkable 825 Spartans appearances between them and bring a wealth of experience to the cause.

Dumbarton’s season thus far saw them defeat Championship side Inverness CT whilst losing to Dundee and Airdrieonians.  Their other points came in a penalty shoot out victory over fellow League 2 side Bonnyrigg Rose who they met in a 0-0 stalemate last week.

Tickets for the match can be purchased online in advance here.  Prices are £17 adult, £11 concession/student and £5 for u16s.

Overseas viewers can watch via the hosts online stream by purchasing it here, priced £10.

Dumbarton are also producing match programmes, available at the ground priced £2.50.

The waiting is almost over.  This weekend sees The Spartans make history with their first game in SPFL 2 after securing promotion from the Lowland League via the pyramid system.

After four exciting Viaplay Cup group ties – three against loftier opponents – and a runout midweek against Rangers B in the SPFL Trust Trophy, the pre-season preparations are done, the plaudits have been earned and Douglas Samuel’s charges take on Clyde FC in the opening game of the 2023/24 season.

Kevin Waugh, who is taking over the coveted Captain’s armband for the forthcoming campaign, is honoured to have the opportunity to lead the side out onto the park in front of a vocal Spartan Army support in what promises to be the biggest day in the clubs 72 year history. 

The defender, who signed for Spartans in the summer of 2021, was impressed by the way the squad handled the intensity of the Viaplay Cup competition.

“The group was a really good test and we performed really well, beyond the expectations of many I’m sure and to be fair, I thought we could probably have taken another couple of points from the games we were edged out late on in too.

“The real stuff however starts now and we want to get off the mark with three points first time out.  If we play on Saturday like we’ve done against the full time opponents we’ve been up against already, we’ll give ourselves a really good chance of winning and I think we’ll do really well this year in our first season in the professional league environment.

“We’ve used the Viaplay Cup constructively as part of our pre-season preparations, to make sure everyone is ready for Saturday and is raring to go from the first whistle.”

As understudy skipper to club legend Ian McFarland last season, Waugh is enthused by the buzz being generated, not only within Ainslie Park itself, but around the North Edinburgh community as a whole.

“Its obviously a historic day for the football club and something to really look forward to.  I feel like we always play better when we have a big crowd inside Ainslie Park, like we witnessed in the play-offs in particular and the boys always rise to the challenge. I’m sure Saturday will be no different and Clyde will no doubt bring through a decent following as well for the first game of the season.”

Visitors Clyde head to Ainslie Park no doubt looking to get their season off to a winning start as they look to return to League 1 at the first time of asking.

The Bully Wee finished their recent Viaplay group exploits with a strong showing against Premiership side Livingston however it wasn’t enough for them to pick up their first points of the tournament.

Kick-off at Ainslie Park is 3.00pm. Tickets can be either purchased in advance via Fanbase or supporters can pay at the gate.

There promises to be a carnival experience inside the ground ahead of kick-off when local youth samba band Pulse of the Place will entertain what promises to be a bumper crowd inside the ground.

Parking directly at the ground will be limited / unlikely. There is on street parking nearby along with neighbouring Morrison’s where you could get your messages before or after the game whilst you are parked there.

We highly recommend any supporters who wish to sit in the stand, which accommodates 504 spectators, to arrive early.

On a more positive note, we have a signed off capacity of 3500 excluding the stand which will offer sufficient space for all spectators coming along.

Coming to Ainslie Park for the first time? Here’s our handy guide.

Congratulations to Michael Allan who joined the list of Spartans Centurions on Tuesday night when he made his 100^th Senior appearance for the Club.

A product of the Academy Pathway system, Mikey made his first team debut off the bench in a 2-1 victory over Selkirk on 9^th December 2017.

He has scored 12 goals during this period, the first in a South Challenge Cup tie against Stirling Uni in October 2019.  He had to wait until July 2021 for his next one in a victory on the road at Gala. 

However it was during our promotion winning season where Mikey found a rich vein of scoring form, netting in no fewer than nine matches, including the winner at Tranent which secured our play-off spot.

Mikey  needs one more strike to match his haul during his stint in the Under 20s, where he was Captain of the team of 2018-19 who won an incredible four trophies, including the league title.  Mikey grabbing one of the goals in the Championship Play-off against Kelty Hearts.

In 2022, Mikey was unveiled as one of the Youth Section ambassadors, an exciting new initiative that saw closer links forged and stronger relationships built between our young players and the Men’s first team, with the 2013’s Allan named after him.

The Spartans finished their pre-season prep ahead of Saturday’s SPFL 2 debut with a 0-3 defeat to Rangers B in the opening round of the SPFL Trust Trophy.

With one eye on the visit of Clyde to Ainslie Park for the league opener, Spartans gaffer Douglas Samuel rung the changes from last week’s outing at Firhill with no fewer than six of Saturday’s starting XI sitting out.

There was a debut for on loan keeper Jacques Heraghty who joined from Queen’s Park last week whilst Academy Graduate Mikey Allan became the latest Spartans player to notched up the milestone of a century of appearances for the first team.

Spartans opened the game with intent, spending much of the early stages inside the Rangers half however despite this impressive start, they were unable to trouble the visitors.

Decent work at the back by Danny Denholm saw him get stuck in with his ball winning qualities.  He looked to send Sam Jones on the counter only for the spring footed Gers defender to leap and nod back to where it came from.

Just after the half hour mark, the best opportunity of the game thus far saw Bradley Whyte burst into the box and his power drive was well saved by Kieran Wright.

Alex Lowry’s free-kick was enough to separate the sides in the same round of the competition last season and the young Ibrox kid almost pulled off a carbon copy, only for the crossbar to come to Heraghty’s rescue.

Moments later however, the defensive wall was breached and an unstoppable drive by Robbie Fraser from inside the box gave the tourists the lead.

HT: The Spartans 0-1 Rangers B

Spartans made a pair of swaps as the players returned from the sheds, Rhys Armstrong and James Craigen coming on in place of Bradley Whyte and Gavin Morrison.

The half was only two minutes old when the offside trap was broken, despite loud remonstrations to the contrary from the home defence and the Glasgow outfit were two ahead courtesy of Thompson Ishaka.

Cammy Russell looked as if he was in for an opportunity to halve the deficit, only to the flagged offside.  The decision was met with fury from the home technical area, causing Referee Hardie to halt play for a word to be had.

Then, in the 56^th minute, a challenge on the edge of the box saw a Rangers man fall to the ground and a penalty was awarded. It was another decision met with confusion however amidst the mayhem, Alex Lowry stepped up and slotted home his third spot kick in two games to extend the lead.

A brace of changes followed, Alan Brown coming on for his 298^th appearance along with Jamie Dishington with Mikey Allan and Cammy Russell withdrawn.

Spartans looked for a consolation effort for their troubles and Under 20s striker Given Ndlovu came on with a quarter of an hour left on the clock.  The young playmaker had some lovely touches in the middle of the park which caused some level of manhandling to halt his progress.

FT: The Spartans 0-3 Rangers B

Malt and Hops Man of the Match: Ayrton Sonkur

A big thanks to match sponsor Hart Lifts for their continued support.

Attendance: 273

Following our Viaplay Group B escapades, Manager Douglas Samuel offered his thoughts on the team’s quartet of fixtures against a brace of Championship sides, a League 1 outfit and fellow SPFL 2 opponents.

“I’m super proud on both fronts I think.  When the draw was made everybody said it was a really difficult group and rightly so.  Probably in most people’s eyes they wouldn’t have expected us to take anything from it . 

“So for us to perform in the way that we have, and to have won 6 points, I think says a lot about the character and also the quality in our dressing room but we know there’s still a bit to go in terms of still trying to improve the strength and depth of the squad so we are learning as we go right now at this level and learning against full time opposition.

“It was very, very difficult on Saturday, especially after the midweek game up in Peterhead as well, to come to Firhill and to go toe to toe. You’re not going to do that, you’ve got to be realistic.  They’re full time, they’re better players but I think our players really stuck to the game plan, showed their quality when they had the opportunity to do so.

“The big thing about the last four games is that you are taking confidence and momentum into the new season.  We’ve a home game to start the new season and hopefully we can start with a win but that will be very difficult against the bookie’s favourites.  I think we’re favourites to go down, Clyde are favourites to go up!

“We’ll find out a little bit more on day one but we’ll certainly take confidence and belief into that fixture on the back of not just this campaign but what we were able to achieve last year.  The players achieved history last year, made history last year because they are good players and more importantly they are good people.  They work hard for each other, they care about each other and you saw that on the park on Saturday by the effort they put in.”

“As a manager, I’ve always said lets see where we are at Christmas, and you can set goals then but our objective is to keep on improving.  Improving as a football club, improving as a team and I know it may sound a little bit corny but we’ll see where that takes us. 

“That winning mindset and mentality stood us in good stead during this competition but ultimately we’ve gone out and you know whilst we take a lot of positives away from it, we wanted to qualify, so, we’ll dust ourselves down, we’ll take all the positives into next week and we’ll prepare as best we can for the Clyde game.  As part of that prep, we’ve got Rangers B in the SPFL Trust Trophy at home on Tuesday night.  They keep on coming thick and fast just now!”