The Spartans now have a hillside to climb

THE fragile newly-borns of Sparta were once left to spend the night alone on a a hillside, to survive or de. The mass of the contemporary breed of Spartans are condemned to do the conga in patch of Edinburgh to the infernal rhythm of beating drums.

Frankly, one does not know who had it worst.

Suffice to say that The Spartans of Pilton remain the stuff of legend a couple of thousand years after the Greek branch went into liquidation. They still survive, not least in the William Hill Scottish Cup.

There was something inordinately pleasing about being at the venerable battleground of Ainslie Park on a sunny Saturday and watching a match that was quietly historic amid the cacophony of the drums and the roars of children and their elders in the crowd of 2504.

The Spartans were attempting to be the first non-league side to reach the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup since Elgin City in 1968. Berwick Rangers, cast awkwardly and unusually in the role of football giants for this specific Saturday, have not reached the last eight since 1980.

History beckoned, but was forced to wait. Time and tide may wait for no man but the combined force of The Spartans did place definitive certainty in the Scottish Cup on hold with the sort of late defiance that would have pleased the warriors of old, not least because it was the indirect result of a strategy familiar in ancient times.

Jack Nixon, a worker in building preservation with Edinburgh Council, is in possession with the sort of weapon that resembles that of the large catapult that once sent rocks into besieged cities. Nixon hurled his shy at regular intervals in to the huddled mass of the Berwick defence and his last throws of the match produced an equaliser and threatened a winner.

It was deep in the five minutes of stoppage time when the burly full-back shot forward to take a throw-in that unsettled the Berwick defence, ultimately allowing Ally MacKinnon time and space to drill home an equaliser.

Nixon later confessed to the press that he had been told to keep this big gun silent when Berwick scouts watched earlier matches.

"I would like Queen of the South because that was where I played my youth football," said the defender, quietly confident of overturning Rangers in the replay and aware that the SPFL Premiership teams have been the victims of a massacre in this year's competition. Only Celtic, Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Dundee United survive into today's draw.

The Spartans and Berwick Rangers will both be there with the home side's equaliser not only the reward for a belligerent strategy but also for a gathering momentum that had come after Berwick had started aggressively with Paul Willis shooting home powerfully after four minutes. The League Two side had chances to secure this foothold in the match, particularly when Blair Henderson sclaffed wide from close in.

But The Spartans regrouped, particularly in the second half, with the introduction of Errol Douglas, bringing the reinforcement of heavy artillery. The powerful striker was denied by an excellent Willie Bald save as the home support, with the children laying down the drums briefly to head off in a conga at the foot of the main stand, roaring on the side with an air of hopeful expectation encouraged by recent cup exploits.

The blood-curdling cries unleashed by the equaliser contributed to an atmosphere that demanded a winner from the home side. Substitute Jack Beacher nearly became the hero of the hero but his arrowed shot fizzed over.

It left both teams to fight another day. This will produce nervous tension as well as a warming anticipation. Willis, who thought his early goal had taken Rangers through to the last eight, admitted the build-up to the match had caused him constant distraction in his labours with an insurance company.

"The whole week in work my head was away. Now it will be even more so because you are going to know who you will get if we get through," he said.

That is all the future but The Spartans could revel in the moment. Their fight, their defiance on the field contrasted pleasingly with the friendliness of much that was visible off it. It is obvious that this is a club that sticks closely to its community ethos and its desire to nurture youngsters.

There is a purpose to what the club is pursuing in the community as well as on the park. They deserve to dream of Scottish Cup progress, even if Berwick will now be favourites to go through.

However, Dougie Samuel, The Spartans' manager, indulged the hope that Hibs could be the next opponent. This may be because he is a Leith boy. It may also be because he knows that the last time Hibs won the cup Spartans of old were still putting their babies on hillsides.