Spartans recall tie that took 17 attempts

WHILE Spartans today stand on the brink of a historical first – namely reaching the Scottish Cup fifth round – their inaugural cup campaign almost never even started 30 years ago.

Proud qualifiers in season 1978-79, the East of Scotland League team were involved in a remarkable debut tie against East Stirling at Firs Park in December 1978.

Incredibly, the match was postponed an astonishing 16 times before it was finally played in late January after 'Shire turned to industrial heaters to get a frozen park playable.

The long wait proved worth it, though. Spartans won the second-round meeting 3-2 on a bitter Sunday afternoon, setting up a trip to local rivals Meadowbank. Danny Castello – for 19 years player and then manager of the northern Edinburgh side – aided that triumph, with Ian Smith among the goalscorer.

"The thing about that fixture was that it was cancelled so often. We never thought it would get played," said Smith.

"We finally played around about 25 January. I think the original date went back to December. It was a bad winter that year, there were are a lot of cancellations right through that season."

Costello, now senior head coach at City of Edinburgh Kings basketball team, recalls the "delirium" at the result, especially because of the limited tools then at the club's disposal.Laughing, he underlines his point. "Spartans, at that time, were an amateur side, all ex-students," he continued. "When we went into that game I can recall Ian Bell, sadly who is know longer with us, saying 'we're going in here and we don't have a medical case.' "The club president Ronnie Swan, who was a dentist, said 'we need something, a medical kit, we don't even have a physio to come onto the park.'

"So typically Ian went down half-way through the game and Ronnie came on and sprayed his leg. Bellso said 'we should have done that long ago, that's the difference.' "But It was a fly spray! Ronnie had it so we actually looked the part." While a third-round defeat at Meadowbank followed, meaning Spartans missed out on a pay day at Hibs, today's team are eyeing another cup scalp at Airdrie United.

The re-vamped Homecoming Scottish Cup means a first-ever fifth round place is the carrot and Costello refuses to rule out an upset. "History is strewn with should have beens. When you get the Faroes beating Austria, Berwick Rangers beating Rangers, these things can happen. If they can happen, then you hope it will again," he concluded.