A scintillating attacking display by Spartak secured a good away victory at Brickfields. An on form strike force, prompted by some sharp midfield movement cut through the Mourne defence and could have yielded even more goals.
Spartak fielded only 8 of the 20 man squad which won Division 3 last year due to a combination of holidays, injuries etc. The three new lads, Robert Mahon, Graham Breen and Dave Thomson all gave a good account of themselves.
The referee, James Keating, had a very good match and there were no bookings or any serious fouls as he controlled the game tightly.
After 15 minutes a long throw by Grier was cleared to the waiting Cibirka , who flashed the ball home from 20 metres. A couple of minues later Breen was through and after his attempt came back off the keeper, laid off to McEnroe, who finished neatly.
The front two of Breen and McEnroe were causing Mourne endless trouble aided by the promptings of McGowan and Cibirka. The two goal lead looked comfortable and the rate at which chances were being created looked certain to lead to more goals.
At this point the concentration dropped completely. The ball sailed over Grier and Browne was unable to catch the local no 9, but Northey saved. Then Northey inexplicably failed to deal with a ball that was going harmlessly wide, and spilled it across the goal to a waiting Mourne player to easily reduce arrears. A further scare occurred when, following a clash of heads, the back four failed to get organised for the hop ball and the number 9 ran free to hit the post with a cross shot.
Just two minutes into the second half, Spartak lost the influential Breen to injury, but not before his last act was to beat the pain barrier and collect a pass from Grier and cross for Thomson to open his Spartak account from close range. Will O Connell came on to good effect in a reshaped 4-5-1. In the 48th minute a great surging run down the right by McEnroe and his cross was drilled in by Thomson.
Spartak seemed to be comfortable until a Morne free kick from 25 yards was allowed to drift in for a soft goal to re energise Mourne. 4-5-1 gave way to 4-4-2 with Cibirka moving up front and O’Driscoll replaced the tiring Thomson and, follwoing a move by McGowan and Cibirka, sent in a tempting low cross which the stretching McEnroe converted with a text book finish.
A good win , but 5 goals, most of them easily preventable, conceded in two games is not very satisfactory.
Northey 4 D O Connell 7 Mahon 7 Grier 7 D Browne 7 Love 7 McGowan 8 Cibirka 8 McEnroe 9 Breen 8 Thomson 8 sub W OConnell 7 O’Driscoll 7.
Spartak failed to take advantage of early supremacy and missed gilt edged chances early on , only to pay the ultimate penalty.
Steve Browne failed to use a two on one situation to Spartak’s advantage and was forced wide by the defender and shot weakly. Agnew, slipped through by Browne, sidefooted a timid effort straight to the keeper and then headed over from Bolger’s cross.
Swords were given hope when a cross drifted in at the far post to give them the lead against the run of play. A fortuitous goal by Browne, after a mix up by the visting defence, got Spartak back into the game, but a lapse in concentration and filure to close out tackles led to Swords finishing rather too easily in a one on one with Mick Costello.
Early in the second half a bizarre incident involving a lapse of concentration by captain for the day Bolger when first he stopped and then recovered but sent Swords on the attack with an off target back pass. They duly capitalised. 1-3. Mick Costello then saved a one on one with his feet.
A raft of substitutions gave Spartak some impetus and they forced at least ten second half corners. All of these were well delivered by O’Driscoll but Spartak lacked the necessary ability in the air to capitalise. Only Kelly , who headed over, and Costello who headed wide, were able to connect.
With Swords repeatedly fouling to stem the tide, the ref let things slightly out of hand, choosing to lecture rather than show cards. Indeed one yellow card lecture to Swords lasted all of three minutes! Swords were reduced to ten men with 20 minutes to go, and O’Driscoll reduced arrears with a crisp shot.
In the 95th minute, an effort by Hull, who gathered and ran through but thundred against the bar, was the last chance of salvaging a point.
Comments by Browne to the referee after the final whistle saw him see red for the second time this season.
Mick costello 5 Dave O Kelly 6 Martin Costello 7 Cathal Clancy 7 Rob Deering 4 Hafid Mouhad 4 Neill Bolger 4 Tom O Driscoll 6 Dave Thomson 7 David Agnew 4 Steve Browne 4. Subs Mick Hull 5 Ross Kelly 5 Niall Hanratty 5.
Spartak Dynamo will be holding a table quiz in the bar in Firhouse Community Centre on Thursday 8th October 2009. There will be no training on the night and full attendence from all players is expected. Cash prises and spot prizes on the night. Please support this quiz as it helps provide much needed funds to pay for our excellent training facilities, the pitches and our gear. Put the date in your diary THURSDAY 8TH OCTOBER 2009.
From Tuedsay next, 1st September, training on tuesday and thursday at St Enda’s , Grange Road at 7pm.
Astro training will commence mid September.
The presentation of the medals to last years Sunday LSL side due to be held in 3 Rock on Friday night has been postponed.
St Colmcilles 4, Spartak 2
Spartak were a little flattered by the final scoreline in the friendly game at VEC last night. In the first half particularly Spartak displayed all the hallmarks of players who have taken a long summer break. Passes were mis placed which conceded easy possession to much sharper opponents and Colmcilles were very quickly two goals up. Spartak’s midfield and defence were being run ragged and combination of some last ditch tackles and some sloppy finishing kept the score at 2-0 until late in the half when Paul Burke, who came on to improve ball retention, gave a very good pass to find Glen Carr and he finished at the near post.
As Colmcilles ran out of subs and fresher legs were inroduced by Spartak, the game became somewhat more evenly balanced after the break. Nonetheless the vast majority of play was conrolled by Colmcille’s with Spartak almost constantly on the defensive and only able to mount sporadic attacks.
In general Spartak played very deep with midfield pressed back in support while the strikers were isolated, giving a very rigid look to the formation. Colmcilles by contrast were a great deal more fluid, with full backs overlapping and forwards dropping deep as required, and players interchanging positions easily resulting in a very effective game of pass and move.
In one desperate defensive passage of play a number of Spartak players made repeated heroic blocks to prevent a score. Tony Kavanagh starred in a defensive role throughout but was unable to make any of his trademark surging runs.
Colmcilles scored at the near post and again with a decent curling shot before Frank McNamee converted for Spartak.
With the first league match a little over a week away , this match proved to be useful both as a good work out and a wake up call.
Jason Northey; Tony Kavanagh, Greg Callan, Tom Maher, Gerry Doran; Ken Byrne, Steve Carr, Brian Stafford, Glen Carr, Frank McNamee, Ray Grady.
Rolling subs: Paul Burke, Mark Byrne, Gavin McLaughlan, Jason Doyle, Barry Crowe.
After 3 games, Mick Costello is racing ahead in the Spartak Fantasy Football league. Stuart Love is a close enough second with Neil McGowan a distant third. With only 6 points separating the next 7 managers the competition is on to break into the top 4. Deggsie and Jay are firmly rooted in the relegation zone. Still, its early days and a long way to go to determine who really knows their stuff (or who has little else to do). Anybody interested in joining, the link is on the right and the code is 1062863-210098.
Great to see supporters at both weekend games – Frank, Jimmy Browne, Hano, Deggsy, Ben (Hafid), Mark . Well done. A great result Saturday and a stirring comeback on Sunday.
Let’s continue this trend…..
What is he thinking?
