Joe McGowan took inspiration from Sergio Aguero and Robert Lewandowski on Sunday as he led his Spartans team to victory over Seton CFC in the Paladin Cup at Arboretum by a 6-1 scoreline with McGowan scoring five goals.
The No.9 scored five while the sixth came from Craig Stewart. Seton took the lead early on after Jay Douglas put away a lovely free-kick from 35 yards but it was not to be their day as Spartans racked up the goals.
It was the home side with the early pressure. Jonathan Mario De Britto had a great chance after a cutback from Tyler Munro but his scuffed shot went wide of the target.
Seton managed to string some lovely passes together but could not break through until the 23rd minute when they won a free-kick 35 yards out. Douglas’ free-kick was swung in with pace and it wrong-footed the ‘keeper and flew into the top of the net to put Seton 1-0 up.
Spartans did not hesitate in pulling a goal back and clinical striker McGowan bagged his first of the day when he was put through by Stewart. His finish into the bottom right corner was out of the ‘keeper’s reach and Spartans pulled level two minutes after Seton had scored.
Lewis Parker had a go at goal for Spartans with half an hour gone, he showed composure under pressure as he controlled a lobbed ball but his shot from 20 yards was smartly saved by Max Ovens.
Parker had another chance but his shot from a tight angle to the left was saved leaving the scores level at half-time in what was an exciting 35 minutes of football.