Spartak regain composure to draw
Park Celtic 1 Spartak 1
Jason Northey, with five outstanding saves and blocks stood between Spartak and a heavy first half deficit. Nothwithstanding the problems of unfamiliarity and some experimentation in the line up, Spartak players were yards off the pace against a faster moving and even faster thinking Park side, who hustled for every ball and were winning virtually all the headers and 50/50 balls.
Anytime the ball went dead, Spartak went dead also , however by contrast Park were alive to opportunities from quickly taken throws and frees, and Spartak looked like being overwhelmed.
Some doughty defending from Cathal Clancy and good covering by Mick Costello helped stave off disaster, with Dillon Burke performing manfully against the local side’s best player. However on 37 minutes a slick short corner routine saw the sky blue defence unhinged and flat footed and it was 1-0 to the home side.
On a couple of rare break outs Mick Greene and Tom O’Driscoll had efforts from free kicks, while Mike Hull headed Rob Flanagan’s cross straight at the keeper.
With Glen Burke and Barry Maguire adding some composure and Tom O’Driscoll providing some much needed hold up play Spartak’s performance improved in the second half, and Northey was not as overworked.
An equaliser was conjured up on 59 minutes when Glen Burke’s free was handled – no penalty given- and when the ball came back to him
he crossed for Mick Costello to head in from a suspiciously offside looking position. 1-1.
Spartak gained in confidence and Ryan Burke’s runs caused enough problems to get the local left back red carded.
Spartak almost got an unlikely winner in injury time when Jose Vargas’ trickery allowed him to set up Mick Greene for a straightforward chance in the box. Mick’s shot was parried and Tom O’Driscoll’s efforts from the rebound and the subsequent corner were both blocked.
Form Report
Jason Northey 9 Mick Greene 5 Dillon Burke 7 Nick Kelly 6 Cathal Clancy 8 Rob Flanagan 6 Mick Costello 8 Jose Vargas 6 Ryan Burke 6 Colum O’Sullivan 5 Derek McGoldrick 5 Glen Burke 8 Barry Maguire 7 Mike Hull 5 Tom O’Driscoll 7
