Cubs took on Dundee Spartans in the early kick off on a warm summer's morning in Dundee. Grant Bell, Andy McMillan and gaffer Paul Stephen all made their 1st starts of the pre-season as Stephen pondered his options for the season ahead.
The 1st chance of the match fell to Spartans straight from the Cubs kick off with a lax C. Brownlee pass nearly gifting Spartans an early opener. Spartans seem buoyed by this and seemed the brighter in the early minutes with the Cubs back line holding firm to deny Spartans Portuguese forward, Ricardo, the 1st goal of the match. Cubs woke up from their slumber quickly with a Brebner cross forcing a desperate clearance from the Spartans defence and Adam Jamieson-Caley forcing the keeper into a great stop. The opening goal came after 15minutes. A long Stephen free kick from half way was only partially cleared to the impressive Andrew Swinton on the edge of the box, who in turn rifled the ball in on the half volley to the keepers right hand side for his 1st Cubs goal. Paul Stephen should have doubled the Cubs lead soon after, electing to attempt (and fail) to chest down a McMillan free kick which he lost in the in the sunlight instead of powering the ball on the header from inside the box.
Cubs continued to impress in defence against a speedy Ricardo, with the forwards main chances coming from a free kick put wide after a Stephen foul and from a long ball where he forced Harry Eggo into a smart stop. Eggo seemed unfazed by the fact Ricardo was wearing number 2 in a forward postion, which was fortunate, as this blow had come just a day after the rocking revalation that Everton forward Samuel Eto'o had rocked up to Goodison Park with the number 5 jersey. Does he not even know that 5 is a centre backs number? You can't make this shit up.
Brebner was booked for persistant fouling after 2 lazy tackles and while Hagger was warming up to replace him Yug forced a free kick in a dangerous right wing position which McMillan lined up gleefully. A great left foot cross found Brebner's head and as per usual the forward with the 2nd best beard in the Cubs forward options had a goal from nowhere.
Hagger replaced Brebner regardless, making an immediate impact, twice forcing Spartans into defensive mistakes from high pressure forward play with Cubs unable to make the chances count. Manager Stephen was left pondering how to mix these 2 players together in the pub afterwards, with Lee's speed and effort, and Jacks goal from nothing ability not yet evident in each others locker.
Braidwood, Mejka and Mckendrick all joined the field at the interval the Cubs pack was shuffled. Unfortunately Cubs produced a 2nd half of old however, allowing our opponents to come back into the game from poor errors. Ricardo somehow battled through 3 Cubs players on the right before setting up his strike partner to half the deficeit early in the 2nd half. Stephen and Ross, both playing through injuries, started to become more isolated thereafter and it was only a matter of time before Spartans got their equaliser. When it came however, it was all Cubs own doing, with R. Brownlee and Eggo not communicating over a long ball, colliding with each other and allowing the Spartans to poke home into an early net.
The Spartans winner was poor defending again from the Cubs, with poor marking from a free kick allowing a Spartans ringer to head home. According to the ref, the goal came in the 89th minute but everyone else involved would be adament their was barely 70/75minutes on the clock at this point. That was that however and we left Nikos to protest with the ref rather than celebrate his win.
In spite of his one mistake, Ross Brownlee took the man of the match award this week with a sterling display at fullback. Shout out also to Andrew Swinton for his best performance so far and for his 1st goal for the Cubs.
