King Leonidas was granted iconic status by The Spartans FC supporters as led his unfancied charges to an unlikely League 1 title at the first time of asking. That meant his Spartan army were set for their 4th campaign in the cinch Championship with everyone expecting them to fail.
The Spartans board continued to refuse Leonidas’ requests to go professional – and he was certain nothing would change on that front unless they miraculously reached the Premiership. However, they did accept his request to improve youth recruitment and coaching, which took both to 17 while training and youth facilities stood at 10 and 8 respectively.
The attempt to prove them wrong again began with 12 players departing at the ends of their contracts, including Jack Harkness, Callum Burnside and Ruari Darge. However, Leonidas had arguably his busiest summer yet, which began with renewing the loan deal of homegrown striker Laurie Berra from Falkirk. He boosted his attacking options with Morty Tuppen from Hamilton and Jamie Anderson from Raith, versatile midfielder Darren Jablonski from St Johnstone, right back Zack Flatman and loaned in centre back Aaron Leighton from Airdrieonians. But his best signing yet may be centre back Luke Kenny, who could improve on strength and determination but hits many of Leonidas’ attribute demands.
A sign of how big a task Spartans now face is that only 6 players, interestingly the central core of strikeforce Aaron Reid and Berra, midfielders Laurie Brandon and Kevin Hale and centre backs Regan Crabbe and Leighton, are considered Championship standard. However, that’s 5 more than the last time they started life at this level!
Leonidas decided to stick with the 4-4-2 that got Spartans and, unlike their last season in the Championship, planned to stick to his guns with this approach, regardless of whether they struggled or not.
Facing Another Impossible Task
Unsurprisingly, the bookies had Spartans doomed, predicting them to finish last with title odds of 250/1 way beyond the next longest odds of Raith’s 50/1 then Arbroath’s 33/1. Relegated Falkirk are league favourites at 4/9 followed by Dundee United (8/13), Livingston (5/2) and relegated Kilmarnock (5/1).
They began with a tough home game against Kilmarnock and were a little unlucky to lose 2-1 in a game that offered plenty of positives, including creating 1.94 xG. But they got the season up and running with a 2-1 victory at Alloa thanks to early goals by Berra and winger Graeme McGinley, who continues to defy the coaches’ assessment of him having non-league-level ability. And that gave them confidence at home to Dundee United as Reid’s strike put them ahead after an hour and earned them a point.
The positive start continued as they claimed a first clean sheet of the season and Tuppen’s late penalty nicked all 3 points at Raith then another solid defensive effort and 6 Mason Munn saves saw them see of Arbroath’s 15 shots to claim a 0-0. The defensive solidity was long forgotten in an absolute thriller at Livingston, where Gary Johnston gave Spartans the lead after half an hour before a mad six minutes saw Liningston equalise through Ross Stewart, McGinley immediately restore the lead and Stewart swiftly equalise again. Johnston looked to have nicked it with a brilliant curling finish 10 minutes from time only for Livingston to grab a late equaliser with an equally good goal. But this result showed that Spartans could compete with the Championship’s better sides.
That result seemingly gave Spartans confidence. On Kenny’s debut, they went to Inverness and, despite going 2-0 down inside 9 minutes, came storming back to win 3-2 through Johnston, Berra and McGinley with the improving Johnston making it back-to-back player of the match performances. A run of 4 games without a win or goal followed before Berra’s brace earned a 2-1 victory over 9th-place Raith. That sparked them back to life as Crabbe and Johnston strikes edged a 2-1 win at Arbroath and another Berra brace earned a 3-1 win over Livingston.
The good form continued as Reid ended a 15-game goal drought with a brace to nick a 3-2 win at bottom side Dunfermline. McGinley nicked a 1-0 over Falkirk and a superb 2030 ended with Reid securing a 1-1 at 5th-place Alloa then an unlucky 1-0 defeat to runaway leaders Dundee United. That took Spartans into the new year sitting pretty in 4th and just 2 points behind the tally they managed in their last Championship campaign.
Pushing For Playoff Contention?
2031 began with another unsurprising home loss to Kilmarnock but Reid nicked a 1-0 win at struggling Raith that saw them surpass their previous Championship points total of 35. In fact, in 3 previous seasons at this level, their record high was 46 points, which was 10 points away with 14 games remaining. They continued to pick up points against teams in the bottom half, including Berra and Reid scoring in a 2-0 win over Arbroath. And a 2-2 draw with Dunfermline virtually guaranteed safety as they sat 17 points clear of relegation with 10 games remaining.
A more realistic possibility was qualifying for the playoffs as Spartans sat in the final playoff position, 6 points clear of Livingston. They maintained that push as the suddenly in-form Reid’s double earned a 2-1 win at Falkirk to take Spartans 3rd ahead of Inverness. That win sent Falkirk into the bottom 2 and ensured Spartans were mathematically safe with 9 games remaining.
Dropped points followed as they drew 0-0 with Alloa and lost at leaders Dundee United, who clinched the title with that victory, but pulled off a stunning 4-4 at 2nd-place Kilmarnock thanks to Tuppen’s late equaliser. That saw the gap close to just 2 points, which extended to 5 as a 2-0 win relegated Raith and surpassed the 46-point mark. The main reason for this form had been McGinley, who won both the player and young player of the month for March with 2 goals and 2 assists in 4 games – but is still only considered a 2-star player.
April began with Berra’s late goal edging a 2-1 win at Arbroath, which moved Spartans 8 points clear of Livingston and confirmed the best finish in club history with 4 games to go. They then lost 1-0 at home to Livingston but responded superbly as goals by Reid and Berra and a late Kelby Crabbe penalty downed Inverness 3-0 to guarantee a Championship playoff place! They wrapped up the campaign by beating Dunfermline before a fully rotated side lost to Falkirk.
But Spartans held on to an impressive 3rd place, finishing on 58 points with an identical record to Livingston’s 16 wins, 10 draws and 10 defeats. But Spartans edged them out by 1 goal after scoring 53 and conceding 46. Reid finished the campaign with the 4th-best tally of 14 goals, only 3 fewer than Dundee United’s Rory Macleod, while McGinley got a 4th-best tally of 8 assists. But could Spartans shock everyone and reach the Premiership for the first time?!
Championship Playoffs
The 3rd-place finish saw Spartans take on Livingston in the 1st playoff round. First up was a trip to the Tony Macaroni Arena, where Spartans haven’t won in their last 7 attempts. Moreover, they’d only beaten Livingston 4 times in 19 meetings. Those trends continued in the 1st leg, but Spartans played superbly to draw 2-2 with rare goals by Kenny and Hale. The same 11 played again and earned another exciting draw in a wild 3-3 thanks to Reid’s 89th-minute equaliser. A dull extra time followed to take the game to penalties and Munn was the hero as he saved twice to earn a 4-2 shootout success.
That took Spartans into the 2nd round playoff against Kilmarnock, whom Spartans had still never beaten and only drawn 4 times in 20 attempts! This time, the home leg was up first and the trend continued with a 2-0 defeat, but they played brilliantly away to earn a 3-2 victory that wasn’t quite enough.
Greatest Season In Club History
Leonidas was absolutely delighted with his boys’ efforts this season, firmly putting their Championship relegation nightmare behind them with the best season in club history. Despite his early struggles, Reid led the way with 18 goals followed by Berra (16), McGinley (12) and Torpen and Johnston (6). Johnston topped the assists with 10 followed by McGinley and Berra (8), Hale (6) and right back Barrie Allum (5).
Spartans U18 retained their U18 Tier 3 title with an undefeated season led by strikers John Milne and Scott Molloy scoring 14 and 12 and winger John Scott getting 17 assists. However, they were no match for a youth candidates side that dominated them 3-0. That was thanks to a youth intake that delivered 3 players with 5-star potential and 4 with 4.5-star potential. The intake was led by Irish midfielder Fiacre Kerley, wingers Simon Anderson and Mark O’Donovan and goalkeeper Ciarán Fairgrieve plus midfielder Kelsey Dods and center backs Coll Dargo and Regan Forshaw.
Leonidas and Spartans now faced the task of building on this success to ensure they didn’t have a repeat of their previous time in the Championship. Could they continue to defy the expectation of relegation? Join us next Wednesday to find out!
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