It was back to league action for Peterhead as the Blue Toon hosted Edinburgh side The Spartans at Balmoor Stadium. The visitors went into the game having lost 5 of their last 6, including a shock Scottish Cup defeat to Lowland League side Cowdenbeath, whilst Peterhead were looking to kick on from their victory in the same competition against Lochee United. There were 7 changes from last week’s victory as Stuart McKenzie, Scott Ross, Dylan Forrest, Peter Pawlett, Jack Brown, Max Barry and Cammy Smith replaced Blessing Oluyemi, David Wilson, Ben Armour, Jordon Brown, Seb Ross, Rory McAllister and Kieran Shanks in the line-up.
The early exchanges of the game were pretty even between the sides – Jamie Dishington headed over the crossbar from close range for the visitors whilst a long-ranged effort from Smith left Blair Carswell scrambling, however the effort was narrowly off target. It was the hosts who opened the scoring early as Andy McCarthy played a lofted through ball into the path of Cieran Dunne, he then squared the ball across the 6-yard box and into the path of Jack Brown and he finished under the Spartans keeper on the slide. It didn’t take long for Spartans to draw level as ex-Peterhead player Hamish Ritchie forced a save from McKenzie with a header but Bradley Whyte followed up and tapped into the empty net.
Peterhead then dominated the rest of the first half and created several very good chances. Pawlett had a chipped effort cleared before it reached the goal line and Dunne flashed an effort narrowly off target following good work from Jack Brown. Moments later Barry hit the woodwork from the edge of the area and Jack Brown fired over on the follow up.
Half Time: Peterhead 1-1 The Spartans
The second half saw more of the same from Peterhead as they looked to finally grab the second goal their dominance deserved. Smith forced a fine save as he fired a rasping effort from 25 yards before Carswell was brought into action again to produce a fingertip save to deny Barry. Peterhead were awarded a penalty as Jack Brown’s header was denied by Ayrton Sonker’s arm and Barry sent Carswell the wrong way with his effort from 12 yards to put the Blue Toon back in front. At the other end of the pitch, Spartans were awarded a penalty of their own as a free kick was adjudged to hit Forrest in the arm, but the usually reliable Blair Henderson saw his effort strike the woodwork and back into play before being cleared by the Peterhead defence.
Full Time: Peterhead 2-1 The Spartans (Jack Brown 17’, Barry 70’(pen); Whyte 21’)
Starting XI: McKenzie, Goldie, Jason Brown, Scott Ross, Dunne, McCarthy (Shanks 83’), Forrest, Pawlett, Jack Brown (Seb Ross 76’), Barry (Duthie 90’), Smith
