Ten man Leith Athletic battled hard for a well earned point again Spartans on Saturday at Muirhouse.
Spartans started strong and took the lead in just the 10th minute. A corner was only half cleared by the Leith defence. The ball fell to Keith McLeod on the edge of the box and his shot was then flicked over Iain Gordon in the Leith goal by Chris Anderson.
Spartans looked to build on their early lead and dominated the first half in terms of possession, however, they created a limited number of chances and found Leith keeper Gordon in fine form as he kept out Gavin Malin, Keith McLeod and the impressive Donal Henretty.
The second half was a different game altogether as Leith started much stronger than they had in the first. Spartans were still creating chances though in what was an end to end game and Gordon was once again in fine form as he got his fingertips to a Gavin Malin freekick which looked destined for the top corner.
Leith’s task looked to have been much harder when they were reduced to ten men after about the 70th minute. Captain Gary Black receiving his 2nd yellow card for a late challenge on Omar Kader. Rather than hinder Leith this seemed to galvanise them and they went on to play better with 10 men than they had with 11.
Leith had several opportunties to equalise giving Spartans plenty warning that it was on the cards and therefor it was no surprise when they eventually did get the goal they deserved in the 89th minute. A freekick was played long into the box, the Spartans defence could only half clear and Lewis Tracey headed home.
Spartans started to push forward and Malin, Beesley, Kader and McLeod all looked to create goal scoring chances however good defending meant they were unable to find a winning goal.
In the end a draw was probably the right result and leaves Spartans twelve points clear of Stirling Uni, however the students have four games in hand, the first of which is this tuesday, at Leith Athletic.
Spartans co-manger Mike Lawson said “we had chances to put the game to bed in the first half but paid the penalty as Leith stepped things up after the interval and deserved their late point saving goal. There is still everything to play for at the top of the table and we now have to concentrate on our game next weekend.”
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