Spartans ready to click into gear and reach League One play-off final
Callum Booth admits Spartans were off colour in their League One play-off semi-final first-leg defeat to Clyde on Tuesday night.
However, he insists there will be no repeat this weekend as the Capital outfit look to overturn a two-goal deficit in the return fixture.
The Bully Wee travel east on Saturday with an advantage after goals from Kyle Connell and Logan Dunachie at New Douglas Park sealed a precious victory.
League Two runners-up Spartans finished eight points ahead of Clyde in the standings and took seven points from a possible 12 when the sides met each other over the course of the 2025/2026 campaign.
But all that counts for nothing. The play-offs represent a clean slate, as does this Saturday, for Booth and his Spartans team-mates.
"We actually started off the game not too bad but, listen, Clyde played well and we didn't do as well as we can," the 34-year-old told the Evening News. "I can't put my finger on why, I'm sure the manager and coaches will have had a good look over as to why we weren't at our best. It's tough to take when it was such a big game, but it's done now and we need to go into Saturday's game with confidence because we've still had a really good season and we can still make it a great season.
"The two-and-a-half years I have been here we have played in some pretty big games and done fairly well. You're not always going to produce the complete performance for one reason or another. So Tuesday was disappointing, of course it is, but thankfully there are two legs, and we're at home this weekend, so we're still fully confident we can turn this around.
"Emotions can be high after a game of this magnitude but the gaffer just reminded us that we're still very much in the tie. Clubs finish in the play-offs because they've generally had a good season. So the teams you come up against are always going to have some confidence about them.
"We know Clyde are a good team, we've played them enough this season. The good thing about the play-offs up here, unlike the National League in England where it's only one game, there's another leg so the reward for us finishing second is we have the second leg at home. We just need to go again.
"This will be the sixth time this season we've faced them so we know their strengths and weaknesses, as they do with us. So, by the time you get to May you know exactly what you're coming up against. But the play-offs are always a bit different, probably because there's so much at stake."
Booth admits his own season has been somewhat stop-start, a back injury ruling the former Hibs, Dundee United, and St Johnstone full-back out not long before the festive period, only returning to the fray at the beginning of March.
"I was out with my back midway through the season so it was frustrating," he said. "It's just what happens when you're getting on a bit! I then had a spell where I was back fit and on the bench, but I've been playing a bit more recently so it's been good to be back playing.
"There's certainly no hangover from not winning the league. It wasn't as if we were 10 points clear and we threw it away, East Kilbride just went on an incredible run. They deserved to win it so fair play to them."