Spartans 1 East Stirlingshire 2

Scottish Cup Third Round, Saturday 20 November 2010 - Ainslie Park, Edinburgh

Tempted though I was to head to Tynecastle today and join in the tributes to Jim Cruickshank, I chose to stick with my original plan and watch East Stirlingshire for the first time this season. The Shire were in the capital city on Scottish Cup business against non-league Spartans. Despite the incessant rain I'm glad I went as it was a fine game and a tribute to both teams that they served up a typical cup tie.

After last season's fine season which saw them reach the promotion play-offs, Shire have struggled this term, due to the number of players who upped sticks during the summer. Jim McInally's team have struggled to score goals  - indeed they recently ended a run of eight games without a goal. Around this time last year, Shire were sitting top of the Third Division. Now, with a much changed team they are sitting third from bottom. With this in mind it was no surprise that many people made Spartans favourites, particularly as they had home advantage.

This was my first visit to Ainslie Park and I was mightily impressed with Spartans as a club. More than 600 fans turned up, most of whom were in the small but impressive grandstand. A few Shire diehards opted to stand in the open and throw themselves, bare-chested, to the elements. But that's the Shire fans for you - small in number but there are no more passionate fans in the land.

The game itself was a real end-to-end affair. Spartans dominated the early stages with some neat passing play but gradually the visitors came more into the game. Just when it looked like we would have a goalless first half, Shire's Paul Weaver placed  a fine effort beyond the home keeper from twenty yards to open the scoring three minutes from the break.

As you would expect Spartans came out with all guns blazing in the second half and were rewarded when McLeod equalised on 54 minutes. It seemed like Shire would be hanging on for a replay but fifteen minutes later, David Dunn rifled home a superb free-kick to put the visitors back in front. Despite sustained pressure from the home team, the Shirey Pirey hung on for a fine win.

It was a hugely enjoyable afternoon, despite the rain. Spartans are an ambitious club and good luck to them for the future. For East Stirlingshire, they'll be keeping their fingers crossed for a big club when the draw for round four takes place.