THE last time Linfield made the short hop over the Irish sea to these shores, they played in front of 60,000 fans in the largest footballing amphitheatre in the land in a Champions League qualifier.

They returned yesterday to the more modest charms of Ainslie Park and the Irn-Bru Cup and after a quick frisk outside the ground for any half bottles of Buckie stowed away, 350 of their fans took their place on the hill behind the goal.

Spartans’ home patch may ostensibly be a football park attached to a leisure centre, but the warmth of the welcome lets you know straight away that this is a proper old-fashioned football club at heart. The Union Jacks and Ulster flags draped from the barriers at the away end and the odd chorus of "We are the People" brought to mind the days when Rangers were going through their sojourns around the lower leagues, and former Rangers man David Healy’s side proved they were a league above their opponents as they claimed a deserved victory.

It was a tough old shift for Spartans, who spent most of the afternoon chasing the ball. Linfield have won all four of their league matches this season, and they showed why they sit atop of the NIFL Premiership with a dominating display of passing football, conducted by the excellent Jamie Mulgrew in midfield.

At first glance, Mulgrew’s less than athletic frame rather made him look like he had wandered on to the park from the adjacent five-a-side pitches, but once the ball was at his feet, there was no doubting he was a classy operator.

For all their superiority though, Linfield took a while to find a way through the stubborn home rearguard.

Referee Mark Petch helped them out though when he penalised Spartans skipper Michael Herd harshly for a handball, with Louis Rooney tucking home the spot-kick to give Linfield the lead before the interval. Spartans had their own penalty shouts throughout the afternoon, but they were frustrated by the inconsistency of the man in the middle.

“We didn’t get many breaks today,” said Spartans boss Dougie Samuel. “It happens too often that the bigger clubs get these breaks, but clubs in our league will probably laugh at me saying that.”

With the home fans not having a great deal to keep them entertained, the MC took affairs into his own hands by keeping the music playing for a good few minutes after the restart, but the needle came abruptly off the record as Linfield silenced the home end with a second. Rooney took a quick free-kick on the edge of the area, sliding in Stephen Lowry to curl a low finish past Andrew Stobie.

One of the great things about attending a game with such a modest number of supporters in attendance is getting to appreciate the creativity of the shouts and chants from the terraces, and the Linfield supporters provided a chuckle with their version of Away in a Manger that had eyebrows raised until it broke into an appreciation of their manager at the line, "the stars in the bright sky, looked down where HEALY, HEALY, HEALY!" Top stuff.

Their gas was at a peep soon after keeper Gareth Deane spilled a routine catch from a Ross Allum shot, allowing Spartans sub Blair Atkinson to pounce and hammer into the roof of the net to make things interesting on the park again, and a couple of great saves from Stobie kept the home side hanging in.

The introduction of Atkinson certainly livened things up, and he hit the byline to create a great opening for Allum, but Deane redeemed himself with a fine stop from close range.

Alas, in the end, the Irn-Bru Cup dream is over for Spartans for another season, but after a spirited encounter, played in tremendous spirit in front of two sets of good-humoured fans, the idea of having teams from other nations involved in the tournament may have a bit of fizz left in it after all.

In saying that, visiting boss Healy rather flattened any notions of it being much more than a nice distraction for his men as he outlined his priorities afterwards.

“I don’t want to sound too negative, but this is probably the least important,” said Healy. “It’s something different, and it’s a good experience to come over here, and I’m sure the players will be looking forward to the draw. We came over on the boat and it’s like a wee holiday for them.

“Going to Celtic was almost easier, because there’s a lot of Scottish football on TV. You know the players, you know the way they set up and the way Brendan [Rodgers] plays.

“Fair play to Spartans, they pushed us right to the end.”