On the day he celebrated his twentieth birthday Spartans striker Dan Maguire scored his maiden goal in the green and white and sealed a 5-3 Doodson Sport Cup win over Stocksbridge Park Steels, not a bad way to mark such an occasion. The youngster collected a pass from Andy Jennings and crashed a low shot into the far corner with minutes left of extra time to ensure his side were in the draw for the next round and Maguire revealed just what the goal meant. He said “On my birthday it was great to get that goal. I’ve missed some sitters and I know that but I thought I hit it pretty well tonight and it was great to see it go in. It was a great ball from big Andy and once I got my first touch I knew what I had to do with it”.
Spartans made it hard for themselves as they contrived to turn a 2-1 lead into a 3-2 deficit in a crazy three minute spell during the second half but a late goal from Andy Jennings took the tie into extra time. From then on it was all about Spartans as Robbie Dale and Maguire’s goal saw them home safely but Maguire thinks his side need to learn to make it easy for themselves and set a target for himself. He said “We should have won comfortably in normal time and we had the chances to do that but they punished us. We got there in the end and it’s great to be in the next round of the cup. I’m getting used to the lads here and they know my game so hopefully I can keep scoring from now on and give the manager something to think about.”