by Adam Kennedy

Getting promoted, regardless of whichever division your club is in, is one of football’s ultimate highs. A whole host of effort, both physically and mentally, the final day of a league season or playoff final can be equally as cruel as it is rewarding.

Thankfully for capital city club Spartans, last season proved the latter as opposed to the former as they entered the SPFL pyramid at Albion Rovers’ expense through winning the Lowland League and emerging victorious in the playoffs.

Winger Cammy Russell recently sat down with UWS News to discuss the toll of last season and Spartans’ solid start to the current campaign. “If anybody knows Spartans, they’ve been after it (a place in the SPFL pyramid) for years,” the 25-year-old began.

“It’s something that everybody behind the scenes has been working really hard towards. So the fact that we actually did it (got promoted), it was more a feeling of relief at the end of that Albion game. Anybody that was there knows it wasn’t a pretty game at all.

It’s always a long season as well, in the Lowland League, we play a lot of games. You play two games pretty much every week so it was really enjoyable and a big relief,” claimed the former East Kilbride winger.

This weekend, Spartans travel to Stranraer and will therefore have faced off against every opponent that they’ll play in SPFL League Two this season.

Last weekend, they hosted Bonnyrigg Rose who were promoted from the Lowland League themselves the season before last.

Former Kelty Hearts winger Russell netted the equalising goal, as Spartans came from two goals down against ‘The Rosey Posey’, after Rhys Armstrong hauled them back into it.

After opening his account for the season against the outfit from Midlothian, he admitted that he’s pleased that his wait for a League Two goal this season is over.

“To be fair, I’ve wanted to get that monkey off my back this season in the league for a while. I’ve been snatching at things, I just needed one to almost fall to me.

It was one of them where it literally just falls and you throw yourself at it and hope for the best. There’s a lot of bodies on the line but I needed that one,” the former Airdrie youngster acknowledged.

Chris Pow is a co-host of the Official Catchup podcast, a platform dedicated to covering non-league football in Scotland. He’s been impressed by Cammy Russell’s start to the season and says that Spartans moving up a level shouldn’t phase him.

“Cammy was one of the best players in the Lowland League last season,” believes Pow.

“I think there’s a few things that Cammy has to contend with in League Two. I think the league is a lot more physical, a lot of balls in the air rather than to your feet with some clubs and it’s a completely different style to what you’d maybe see down the tiers.

Cammy’s a good enough player that I’m sure he’ll get used to that different environment and I have no doubts that he’ll go on to become one of the best players in League Two and hopefully beyond”.

Pow, who also streams Football Manager content on his YouTube channel, argues that continuity is key and that’s a huge factor into why Spartans have made such a solid start in the fourth tier.

“I don’t think there’s much difference in terms of their squad,” the streamer suggested.

“Club captain and club stalwart Ian McFarland retired. They lost someone who had been there for many years like Scott Maxwell, but they brought in the likes of Danny Denholm and James Craigen to replace these guys.

But there wasn’t wholesale changes like you might see with some teams that have went up a level or into the SPFL.

They’ve got a fantastic facility at Ainslie Park. From the playoffs, you’ve seen these young fans come in, making tifos and banners and making a lot of noise, creating an atmosphere at Ainslie Park which is great to see.

I think attendances are up, obviously being in League Two, but it can be a bit of a culture shock coming from the Lowland League where you play teams home and away and then you might get them in the cup.

But you’re playing (teams) four times a season in League Two so it’s a different animal. In terms of that league, you’ve got a really good Peterhead side in there and Stenhousemuir, Dumbarton as well.

I think it will be tough for Spartans in their first season but I wouldn’t rule out any shocks.”

Currently sat just outside the playoff places in fifth, the SPFL newcomers will hope that their solid start isn’t a flash in the pan and that they’ll be pushing towards the top end of the division this season.