Three goals in the second half from Marc McNulty, Mark Stowe and Ayrton Sonkur sealed victory for The Spartans at Meadowbank. Caitlyn Gordon reports:
Only one change was made to Michael McIndoe’s team that were defeated by Stirling Albion with Divine Iserhienrhien starting up front and replacing Ouzy See.
City had the first opportunity of the game, as a chance opened up for Quinn Mitchell to take a shot from 20-yards out, but the ball flew wide of the post.
A couple of minutes later, a quick succession of chances ensued as Dylan Williams slid the ball to Malik Zaid. The winger attempted a shot from the right-hand side but his chance landed in Paddy Martin’s gloves. Innes Lawson then took a shot from just outside the box, the chance was also saved.
Spartans had their first proper opportunity of the match in the 17th minute as James Craigen ran through the midfield. With open space on the edge of the box he attempted to beat Mark Weir, however, his shot narrowly went wide.
A foul on Iserhienrhien earned City a freekick which Mitchell lined up to take, his powerful strike was promising, but was saved by Martin.
Spartans came close to breaking the deadlock in the 32nd minute as Mark Stowe took the visitor’s corner. The ball found Tapping in the box, but the awaiting Mitchell expertly kept the chance out.
In the final minutes of the allocated 45, Stowe lined up to take another corner, with Tipping heading the ball once again. This time round, his chance bounced off the bar before Mark Weir quickly cleared the ball.
Spartans opened the scoring on 59 minutes. The visitors were awarded with a corner and Marc McNulty converted to give his side the lead. Tiwi Daramola was brought on in the 62nd minute, with his first chance almost leveling the game. Daramola ran up the left-hand side and looked certain to score, but could only hit the side netting.
Spartans scored a second on 67 minutes as Stowe doubled the visitors’ lead directly from the corner flag. After a delay following an injury on Paddy Martin, the match resumed with another goal moments later from a corner as Ayrton Sonkur headed the ball past Mark Weir.
As the game came to a close, City were still on the hunt to pull one back as Cole Williams took an ambitious shot from long range, but Blair Carswell saved the ball well.
Following the full time whistle, Michael McIndoe gave his thoughts on the afternoon:
“For 50 minutes we did okay, very even game. I thought the first half we moved the ball really well, the pitch was nice and slick. We didn’t create massive amounts of chances, but I felt we controlled major parts of that first half. But overall, it was first half was good, without creating that clinical chance, I feel both teams had a couple of half chances at best.”
“The second half, we gave away three goals from three corners. I know it’s windy a little bit, but there’s no excuses. We gotta deal with the football and one of the balls I think went straight into the net.”
“We were down to ten men, with most of our substitutes on the pitch which we had to at 3-0.”
“Overall, the first half was good, but that 20 minutes in the second half we need to be more resilient and aggressive.”
City trail Dumbarton by 11 points, with only four games left of the season. McIndoe was asked how he and the team will prepare for their remaining matches:
“We have to be realistic, I think after last weekend’s result we know we will now be in the playoff games.”
“We knew that for the past couple of weeks, we’ve been keeping it at the back of our mind because we are optimists but realists at the same time. We’ve got a young group that are hurting at the moment because they’ve always felt through the course of the season that they would turn it around.”
“For us it’s about focusing on the games that are coming up. We’ve got seven injured players and we need them back on the pitch.”
“They will all be ready for the playoff games, but between now and then it’s about players earning the respect to be in team. It is also about trying to earn respect for contracts because it’s coming to that point soon.”
“We are very confident over two legs, that we will give anybody a good game and we are very confident we will retain our SPFL status come that time. But between now and then we have a lot of work to do.” McIndoe concluded.”
