Spartans led 1-0 at the break after dominating the first half, but their old city rivals struck back soon after the restart to set up a nail-biting second half for the home side.
Despite a sending-off for City keeper Stuart Hogarth, a penalty mis
s from Donal Henretty left Spartans fans wondering whether City Park was going to get the send-off they wanted. But two superb strikes from David Etale in the final ten minutes finally sealed the win for Spartans.
As he came off the park, the Kenyan striker, pictured below, dedicated the goals to his parents, victims of a shocking ordeal in Kenya last week.
"My mother and father were attacked by burglars back in Kenya," explained David. "So this is for them and to tell them I'm thinking of them.
"I'm really happy to have scored the goals. I thought I'd try to test the keeper as he was an outfield player (City captain Ross McNamara took Hogarth's place in goal after the latter's dismissal] and it worked. I'm really pleased, and now we can look forward to next week's match."
Spartans will travel down to title rivals Dalbeattie Star on Saturday with a three-point lead, and ahead by six on goal difference.
"We're in the driving seat now," said Spartans co-manager Mike Lawson. "But we're not going to go down there playing for the draw. We'll play for the win.
"David was absolutely brilliant. We knew when we got him that he was something special. But given what happened to his mum and dad during the week we didn't know whether he'd be available or fit to play. But he was superb.
"Midway through the second half after we missed the penalty I was wondering whether we were going to win.
"We knew City were never going to come and sit down, and Jordan (Hall] scored a wonder strike to get them level. This is our last game at City Park, and that strike and David's first are probably as good as I've seen here."
Playing down the famous City Park slope for the last time, Spartans were 1-0 up with just eight minutes gone. The ball was lobbed into the crowded City box, and Struan Preston managed to direct the ball towards goal. The ball looked to be going in anyway, but Omar Kader made sure with a tap-in over the line. Spartans were on top throughout the opening half and could easily have been further ahead by half-time. The home side had two goals disallowed, with Henretty and Dan Gerrard headers both being ruled out for fouls on the defender. City might have sneaked an equaliser just before the break when Ross Guthrie set up Juan Carlos Amoro for a header which flew across the face of goal.
Two minutes after the break, City were on level terms thanks to a screaming shot from Jordan Hall that was taken from 25 yards and which Chris Flockhart had no chance of saving.
On 55 minutes, Kader was brought down just inside the box by Hogarth, and the City goalkeeper was given a straight red card by referee Paul Reid.
City captain Ross McNamara donned the keeper's jersey, and promptly saved the resulting penalty, diving low to his left to keep out Henretty's spot kick.
And when Dean Hoskins and Gaving Malin both failed to find the target with free-kicks from good scoring positions, some nervous Spartans fans must have been thinking their old rivals from the Capital were going to spoil the party.
It was the 82nd minute before Spartans regained the lead. Etale, who had looked lively since coming on in the 60th minute, picked up a pass from Malin, took one touch with his right foot to send the ball into the air, and volleyed the ball in off the left upright from the edge of the box.
Etale then sealed the points for Spartans in the 93rd minute. Forced wide out of the box by his marker, Etale managed to place the ball past the keeper and find the target from an acute angle. City's Shaun Steven said: "When Etale scored his first goal, I just stood and clapped. There's nothing else you can do but applaud a goal like that. We're happy with the performance if not the result, and now we're looking forward to next season."
Spartans: Flockhart, O'Donnell, Hoskins, Gerrard, Fowlie, Archibald (Etale 59) King, Manson, Preston (Malin 74) Kader, Henretty.
Subs: Hair, Opilka, Smith
Edinburgh City: Hogarth, Morrison, Speed (Calladine 53) McNamara, Bruce (Harrison 45) Hall, Caddow, McFarland, Amoro (Dunn 45) Guthrie, Gair.
Subs: Taylor, Wilson
Referee: Paul Reid
The full article contains 836 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
