Kader celebrates milestone

It was City who made the early running with Spartans being content to make probing runs on the break, but it wasn’t until the second half that the match came alive. On 46 minutes City claimed that Flockhart had handled outside his box, and two minutes later a defensive error gave Omar Kader – making his 250th appearance for Spartans – space on the left-hand side of the box to rifle a low shot beyond Stobie.

With the match continually under threat of abandonment through fog, a classic end-to-end battle developed. Howat should have equalised in 58 minutes and Wilson and Elliot came close, while at the other end Hoskins, Kader, Finnie and a trialist were ever-present dangers.

There was one minute remaining when man-of-the-match Kader almost doubled Spartans’ lead, taking Finnie’s pass and lobbing Stobie from fully 40 yards out, but the ball rebounded from the crossbar.

Spartans: Flockhart, O’Donnell, Hoskins, Sivewright, Mackinnon (Beesley 77), Malin, Kader, Manson, Anderson (Finnie 68), Grant, Henretty (Trialist 63). Subs not used: Donnelly, McTurk (sg).

Edinburgh City: Stobie, Cennerazzo, Scott (Elliot 25), Harrison, Bain, McFarland, Vanson (Macfarlane 74), Gair, Howat, Guthrie (Wilson 25), Devlin. Subs not used: Macnamara, Mackintosh (sg).