East of Scotland Premier League, Saturday 10th November 2007

Whitehill Welfare 2 Spartans 2

Whitehill were two ahead within the opening half-hour and missed a penalty before Spartans rallied after the interval with the introduction of substitutes Struan Preston and Kevin Motion.

Both teams made one change from the previous week when they won their respective League Cup semi-finals. Whitehill brought in Garry Calvey in place of Stevie Swanson while Spartans introduced Donal Henretty for Motion.

Whitehill started the game on the offensive and after only three minutes Darren Pryde slipped the ball to the electric Scott Gormley who hit the side netting with a low angular shot.

In the fifth minute, Whitehill were awarded a penalty kick. A free kick from Pryde was heading wide of the post until Spartans midfield player Ross Campbell inexplicably handled the ball above his head and directed it goalwards where it hit the post and crossed the line before being cleared.

Although the assistant referee seemed to award a goal, the referee insisted he had already blown his whistle for a penalty before the ball crossed the goal line.

Alan McDonagh stepped up and hit the penalty weakly to Kevin Brown's right and the Spartans goalkeeper easily saved it.

Whitehill took the lead in the 24th minute. Left-sided defender Kevin Lee picked the ball up in his own half and tore down the touchline with Spartans' Campbell in close attendance. His cross found an unmarked Gormley six yards out at the near post, from where he directed a glancing header into the roof of the net. It was a simple goal.

Three minutes later Whitehill were two up. Henretty gave away a free kick in front of the home technical area some 45 yards from goal. Pryde hit over a fast-moving free kick to the edge of the penalty box where Andy Doig rose to head the ball powerfully into the net.

Spartans almost pulled a goal back two minutes before half time when a 25-yard free kick from Campbell rebounded from the post with McGurk beaten.

The Spartans management team obviously thought changes were necessary and replaced Omar Kader and Campbell with Preston and Motion to try to give the visitors a platform on which to build more goalscoring opportunities.

However, it was Whitehill who created the best chance when Gormley set up Calvey but with only Brown to beat he blasted his eight-yard shot high over the crossbar.

Spartans managed to pull themselves back into the game in the 58th minute. King threaded a pass wide on the left to McLeod who did superbly to deliver a cross to the back post where Danny O'Donnell jumped unmarked to direct a ten-yard header into the postage stamp corner. The goal lifted Spartans and shortly afterwards they claimed for a penalty after a Henretty shot appeared to be handled in the box.

The threatened equaliser eventually came with 20 minutes of the game left. Stewart Fowlie released Noon on the left edge of the penalty area, the striker laid the ball into the path of Motion and his left-foot shot from 14 yards bulged the net despite the best efforts of McGurk.

Calvey had a netbound shot palmed over by Brown although the closing stages of the game all belonged to Spartans.

McLeod had two shots wide of the target then a Noon header was just about to cross the line when Lee acrobatically managed to keep the ball out of the net and a follow up effort struck the post.

Motion hit the top of the bar with a corner kick and McLeod had a weak header saved before the final whistle went and a point each was the reward for both teams.

Pryde, whose dead-ball delivery was exceptional, said: "We were very happy to get a draw after the way we played. Spartans were the better side and we did not play at all.

"After half time Spartans really came at us and did not allow us to play. We were not composed on the ball considering that we have been playing well. We have to give credit to Spartans because they played with three up front and they could easily have nicked a win.

"We will gladly take the draw and we are still unbeaten all season.

"Considering how badly we played that is a very positive aspect because during the entire 90 minutes we did not create many chances from open play.

"It was a blip but we're still up there and teams will have to play well to beat us. We're very positive and we can look forward to our next game, which is in the Scottish Cup away to Ross County."

Carr, the Whitehill manager, added: "The way we tackled the second half was atrocious. I did not think that our players could drop to that level in such a short space of time.

"We started the game off well although I was surprised to be two goals up without creating a chance.

"At half time I spoke to the players and told them what would be ahead of us. I asked them to raise their game and get on top without giving anything away.

The players did the exact opposite and in the second half we simply did not turn up."

Mike Lawson, Spartans co-manager, added: "I still think that we are underachievers in a game we should have won.

"Whitehill could easily have been three goals up and we could have had Ross Campbell sent off for deliberate hand ball.

"We got our act together just before half time but by then we had let Whitehill score two easy goals.

"We allowed their player to run 50 yards for the first goal then we conceded a silly free kick which allowed them to score with a header from 18 yards. Every week we are giving away bad goals and that is soul destroying.

"We brought on Struan and Kevin at half time and they both had a good 45 minutes. We scored two goals, hit the post and had a chance cleared off the line. We did everything but score and we showed a lot of spirit.

"This will be a closely contested League campaign and there is still a long way to go."

Whitehill Welfare: McGurk, Cornett, Lee, Johnston, Woodburn, McDonagh (Wilkes, 73), Calvey, Pryde, Gormley, Doig (Christie, 73), Kidd. Subs: Cairns, Swanson, Russell.

Spartans: Brown, O'Donnell, Fowlie, Campbell (Motion, 46), Seeley, Kader (Preston, 46), King, Archibald, Noon, McLeod, Henretty (Riddell, 85). Subs: Burns, O'Neil.

Referee: W Hornby

Report courtesy: Keith Anderson

Above: Scott Gormley connects with Kevin Lee's cross for the opening goal.

Above: Gormley's header nestles in the net.

Above: Doig connects with Pryde's swirling free-kick.

Above: Andy Doig's looping header is about to drop into the net.

Above: Brown is beaten by Doig's looping header.

Above: Spartans are stunned as Doig's header makes it 2-0.

Above: Doig is congratulated by his jubilant team-mates.