42

Ainslie Park

Saturday 4^th October 2025

It’s Edinburgh derby day! Hearts against Hibs at Tynecastle in the first derby of the season. Tony Bloom’s billions, his infamous recruitment software, and all the expectations that come with it against their cross-town rivals who finished above them last season and came within seconds of securing European group stage football in August. But we’re not interested in that, we’re off to the grandly named Vanloq Community Stadium to see the other Edinburgh derby taking place today, The Spartans hosting Edinburgh City….

I’d already seen The Spartans earlier this season when they took on Cove Rangers in my first game of the 42. They didn’t look too impressive that night but it might have been a consequence of the game being in the Scottish Challenge Cup and the team not particularly prioritising that trophy. In the league they have been much more impressive though and currently sit four points clear at the top.

A quick glance at the league table would imply that this would be an easy win for The Spartans as Edinburgh City are propping up the SPFL. However this is the result of a points deduction for a minor infringement of league financial regulations and their current points tally of -3 hides the fact that they have earned 12 points from eight games. Without their deduction this form would otherwise see Edinburgh City in fourth place. As a result I was hopeful for a very evenly matched game.

Naomi and I were down in Edinburgh already this weekend as we had gone to see Elis James and John Robins at the Queens Hall last night. Once I realised we would be in Edinburgh for the day I started checking the fixture lists to see what other grounds might be available to visit that would normally require a much longer journey. I’ll be honest, I did initially look at trying to get a ticket for the Hearts vs Hibs game but quickly realised it would be a difficult task. Whilst there have been times in the recent past where one (or both) of the teams have faced their struggles and support has waned they are both currently riding high with unbeaten starts to the season and tickets to any game are therefore more difficult to come by.

The idea of going to see a different Edinburgh derby on the same day as the Hearts vs Hibs game also really appealed to my sense of humour though and it was an easy choice to get tickets to this game over alternatives like Airdrieonians, Kelty Hearts, or Stenhousemuir. The fact the game was so close by and the crowd would undoubtedly be small meant that I was also able to persuade Naomi to join me for the game.

Naomi has said from the start that she would like to come along to some of the games with me but she wanted to be a bit selective about which ones she attended. She went to her first football match when were on holiday in Italy a few years ago. We got tickets to see Hellas Verona host Napoli at the Stadio Marcantonio Bentegodi which the visitors won 2 – 5 in what was a very entertaining game. Naomi didn’t hugely enjoy the action on the pitch though and her enduring memory was of how awful the women’s toilets were.

I convinced her that there almost certainly wouldn’t be the needle and aggression that would be on display at Tynecastle later in the day and that there probably wouldn’t be ‘hole in the floor’ toilets in central Edinburgh either. The positives maybe ended there though. If she wasn’t entertained by a Napoli team containing Kvita Kvaratskhelia and Victor Osimhen I was a little worried about what she would make of the action at Scottish League Two level. Still, she was committed now, there was no backing out!

We had stayed at the Village Hotel in Edinburgh as it was convenient in terms of arriving down from Aberdeen and handy for getting in and out of Stockbridge on Saturday morning. The other big advantage was that it was only half a mile away from Ainslie Park, a much more fitting name for what is definitely not a stadium… As I’m judging distance travelled from where I spent the previous night (unless I have travelled specifically for the game) this would almost certainly be the shortest journey of the 42.

After returning from Stockbridge (with vinyl copies of Chutes Too Narrow by The Shins and Greetings from L.A. by Tim Buckley secured) we set off on the walk to the ground. Edinburgh had been hit by storm Amy last night and whilst the rain seemed to have fully passed through the wind was still blowing a hoolie promising a fairly chaotic game. We quickly got to the ground and were through the turnstiles in no time. We’d aimed to get there fairly early to secure a spot in the covered main stand as all seating was unreserved and we easily managed to find somewhere close to the halfway line.

I went for a short walk around the ground to explore a little and watch the two teams warming up but it was a ground, a bit like Cove Rangers’ Balmoral Stadium, that didn’t really have anything unique or interesting to really sell it. The Spartans have lots of junior teams for both girls and boys and the facilities would be incredible for these teams but for a semi-professional senior team it’s a little bit soulless.

I made my way back to our seats and before long the two teams were out and ready to start the game. The Spartans kicked off and started in a really unusual way. Sean Welsh tapped the ball a couple of inches and a number of SPartans players immediately sprinted forwards. James Craigen then ran into the centre circle and sprayed a pass wide to Cameron Russell who had headed off down the left wing. Edinburgh City had been caught napping right from the first whistle and Russell was closing in on goal, only a poor cross saved City’s blushes.

The Spartans seemed to have all of the early possession although they weren’t able to take advantage of it. They were keeping the ball down on the ground a lot more than Edinburgh City and this tactic of trying to avoid the swirling gusts of wind was helping them keep hold of the ball while City’s long ball tactics resulted in lots of lost headers or balls sailing out for thow-ins. Despite this the first clear chance fell to City. Jack Duncan used a blatant shirt-pull (directly in front of the linesman) to beat his man down the right wing and as he strode into the box, and his angles narrowed, he chose to shoot rather than cut the ball back to Jaden Ferguson. His effort was easily saved when the other option looked like a much better chance to take the lead.

Normal service was resumed shortly afterwards as The Spartans pushed forward again. First Russell pulled a shot wide from the right hand side of the penalty area and then a clever flick from centre back Ayrton Sonkur nearly beat Mark Weir in the City goal. At this point the only way Edinburgh City seemed to be able to get possession was when The Spartans beat themselves including Jamie Dishington and Bradley Whyte taking each other out in what looked like a scripted WWE move.

The Spartans best chance of the half came on 35′ when a cross found Russell in the middle of the box without a City player anywhere near him. He looked to have plenty of time to control the ball and pick his spot but he decided to take the first time shot and must have put the ball 30 feet over the bar.

On the stroke of halftime Edinburgh City did have the ball in the back of the net but the whistle had long been blown for offside (although it looked as though it must have been tight). A foul in the build up of this move resulted in City’s Bradley Barrett being booked for a late challenge while contesting the loose ball. Both players had gone in hard but the Spartans midfielder had come off worse and the incident led to emotions boiling over and a lot of handbags from both teams. The tinderbox had been lit for the second half.

We used the break to find hot drinks to try and offset the effect of the wind that seemed to find every possible route into the main stand. With these acquired we headed back to our seats and settled in for the second half. The Spartans had dominated both possession and the number of chances in the first half but straight away this changed in the second half. Edinburgh City had, quite literally, weathered the storm and were increasingly playing themselves into the game.

Just before the hour mark City got the breakthrough. A long throw from The Spartans was well defended and after Weir claimed the ball he spotted the opportunity for a quick attack. A long ball was initially headed away before Ferguson collected the second ball.A quick pass to Robbie Mahin was immediately flicked on to Jack Duncan who took the shot early from the edge of the penalty box and beat Paddy Martin low down on his left. The goal had been scored right in front of the passionate away fans who spilled on to the pitch to celebrate with the team.

It felt like the goal that the game needed and I was hopeful that it would spur The Spartans on to regroup and go looking for the equaliser. Unfortunately for the next 20 minutes this wasn’t the case. The game went a little flat, not helped by a home support that made almost no noise at all throughout the whole game. City looked to be in control and seemed to be just playing out the minutes quite comfortably.

That changed in the last 10 minutes of the game as The Spartans finally managed to make some progress in their search for a goal. Russell saw the ball fall beautifully for him and took a shot from about 30 yards out which was tipped over the crossbar before centreback Walsh was inspired to try something similar a few minutes later. His effort wasn’t quite so impressive as it went out for a throw-in.

With a couple of minutes left Jake Service blocked The Spartans taking a quick throw-in with his arm and was rightly booked. The Spartans players, and a couple of fans, were incredulous that another throw-in was awarded instead of a free kick. After explaining the situation to the players the referee turned to the stand and gave a detailed explanation of the rules and his decision.

The Spartans’ best chance to level the scores came in injury time when a ball over the top fell to substitute Mark Stowe in the box. Quinn Mitchell did well to force a rushed shot and in doing so forced Stowe to put his effort just wide.

The final whistle confirmed City’s win and meant that they had taken just nine games to completely wipe out the 15 point penalty they had been given. Although they are still bottom of the table they are now just five points adrift and can realistically start to look at picking off the teams above them. The players celebrated with the away fans while The Spartans were kept on the pitch for a slightly depressing looking huddle with their coaching team.

Despite the differences in quality Naomi had enjoyed this match more than the Serie A game we had seen a couple of years ago. The smaller ground and closeness to the game as well as the lack of diving and nonsense from the players were big factors in this. The main problem however had been the temperature, Edinburgh in October is not the same as Verona in August. Given that we had reached Stonehaven on the drive home before Naomi had managed to warm up I suspect it might be April or May before she agrees to attend another match with me…

The Facts

• Ground
  • Ainslie Park
• Home
  • The Spartans
• Away
  • Edinburgh City
• Competition
  • Scottish League Two
• Result
  • 0 – 1
• Scorers
  • Jack Duncan
• Attendance
  • 621
• Cost
  • £18
• Total distance travelled
  • 1 mile
• Transport
  • Walk
• My MotM
  • Malek Zaid, the quickest feet of any player on the pitch. He danced past Spartans defenders on multiple occasions and constantly looked capable of causing problems. As Edinburgh City only had two outfield substitutes named on their bench he needed to keep going for the full 90 minutes and never really tired. An impressive 21st birthday.