Spartans make the trip down the M74 to Dumfriesshire on Saturday where they face Gretna FC 2008 in the latest adventures in the Lowland League.

Both teams were in action midweek, with Dougie Samuel’s side recording a 3-2 win at home against Berwick Rangers whilst hosts Gretna left Broadwood 24 hours later with a point following a 2-2 draw against OG Broomhill.

Tuesday night’s five goal thriller against Berwick saw Spartans make it six games unbeaten on the bounce in the league.  Blair Henderson bagged a brace from the penalty spot to guide the team to the win however he knows that Saturday’s will be yet another difficult encounter against a somewhat rejuvenated Gretna side.

Speaking ahead of the 200 mile round trip, Henderson said, “It’ll be a tough game for sure.  Gretna have been going well and are a completely different team from last season.  It’s a big game for us – and for them – but hopefully we’ll come out on top.”

The striker has netted a brace and hat-trick in the last two outings against Saturday’s opponents whilst Spartans have won 14 out of the sixteen Lowland League encounters against the Raydale Park outfit.

Henderson remains level headed and knows that whilst the stats sound good on paper, it’s what happens on the park in the next game that really counts.

“I don’t think we can read too much into what’s happened last year or beyond that too, especially with Gretna who have changed a lot in terms of personnel since we last played them.  

“This league is unpredictable.  Gretna were on a good run not so long ago and we currently see ourselves with the momentum behind us. These things can change quickly and hopefully we’re on the right end of the result come Saturday night.”

The hit-man however has netted in four of the clubs last six outings and is hot on the heels of Jamie Dishington at the top of the Club’s leaderboard in the league, with just four goals separating the two players. 

Will Henderson add to his tally of 38 and narrow that gap even further? 

“We’ll see.  It won’t be long until that lead’s gone anyway!  Dish knows as well as me that I’m coming for him so it’ll be fine. 

“At the end of the day though it’s about winning games and getting the three points.  Naturally I’d rather it was me who scored the goals, but we’re on a good run and we just have to keep it going and we’ve a good squad who have already shown we can share the goalscoring amongst us. 

“It’s a tough league and as you can see from the table, there’s so many clubs who are on and around the same number of points we need to win the game.”

Kick-off at Raydale Park is at 3.00pm.

The Spartans are very excited to announce that Westwoods Health Club have teamed up with the club to be our Official Fitness Partner.

Westwoods Health Club joins as the Club’s Official Fitness Partner offering opportunities to promote a healthy lifestyle.

The two-year partnership will see Westwoods feature on perimeter boards at Ainslie Park, in our popular matchday programme ‘The Spartan’ and across our social media channels.

Plus, Spartans players and coaches will benefit directly from the deal too with their first month’s membership free on joining at Westwoods impressive facility at neighbouring Fettes.

Players from our Youth Section recently visited Westwoods where they enjoyed an informative nutritional talk followed by an engaging hour-long strength, mobility and flexibility session.

Spartans Director Keith Boyes said of the launch; “The facilities at Westwoods Health Club are fantastic. Since our tour and meeting at the club we saw the immediate advantage of a partnership.  We’re all looking forward to working with the team and its members.

“With a vast space to work in and such a wide variety of equipment from watt bikes, state-of the-art equipment from Technogym and functional fitness rig to sessions in the pool, this is an ideal place for our players to focus on improving their strength and fitness to complement their current training regimes.”

“It’s imperative that we have as many players as possible across the Spartans family match fit and ready to play each week. Having the use of Westwoods Health Club and their team, it makes this a lot easier and therefore helps to aid and enhance their performances on the pitch.”

Susan Mather, Sales Manager of Westwoods Health Club added, “We are delighted to be working with The Spartans Community Football Academy as their official Fitness Partner.

“Here at Westwoods, we understand the life changing benefits of exercise and we are keen to use our expertise and knowledge to further support local people with their physical, emotional and mental wellbeing.

“We see this partnership as an exciting opportunity to further connect with the surrounding community to help raise awareness and create positive change through physical activity.”

Westwoods offers an extensive range of services, each staffed by our friendly, knowledgeable and upbeat team. Facilities include:

66+ classes per week

Refurbished gym with the latest Technogym equipment

25m swimming pool featuring Swimtag technology

Sauna/steam room

Cafe Refresh/sun terrace

Free secure parking

Westwoods is delighted to offer Spartans Football Academy affiliates one month’s free membership when they join on a pay monthly or annual membership. For more information or to arrange a complimentary trial, please visit: https://westwoodshealthclub.com/spartans-football-club/

A week, they say, is a long time in politics, however in the cut and thrust of non-league football, the highs and the lows of last week’s exit on the Road to Hampden journey are firmly parked in the mind of Jamie Penker.

Both sides exited the Scottish Cup last week and meet at Alliance Park where they go head to head on League duty as Spartans aim to maintain their momentum, going into the clash on a four match unbeaten run.

The midfielder, who signed in the summer from Stirling University, is keen to ensure Spartans continue where they left off in the Lowland League three weeks ago when they head west on Saturday to take on Caledonian Braves.

“I think it’s fair to say that we will be using last week’s performance as the fuel to start from the off against Braves.  It was a disappointing outcome and obviously things didn’t pan out the way we wanted them to go. 

“We’ve had two good sessions at training in order to regroup and regather and our full focus now goes into our league campaign and channel in on what we want to achieve come the end of the season.”

As cliches go, one swallow doesn’t make a summer and it’s equally correct, Penker notes, that one defeat in six outings doesn’t a crisis make.

“Our form in the league recently has been really good.  We’ve been keeping clean sheets and not shy when it comes to scoring goals either.  The whole squad have contributed well to these results and it’s also great to see many of the lads coming back from injury too, so hopefully this can be the start of another ‘mini-run’ if you want to call it that.

“Every Saturday you go into the game hungry for that win and secure three points each time.  It’s important therefore that we turn up with the right attitude.  We know it’ll be a tricky game as it always is at their place however we go into it confident with the quality we have in our squad and look to take the points.

Tomorrow’s match at Alliance Park is at 3pm.  Admission is free (or optional donation at the gate).