Wayside Celtic 1, Spartak 1
A good work out against a useful Wayside outfit marred only by an inept refereeing performance in the final warm up game before hostilities begin in earnest.
Graham Breen should have won a penalty (and the keeper red carded) when a horrendous high two footed lunge went unpunished early on.
Spartak began brightly and made chances when Niall Tilly’s cross was weakly fired in by Seamus McCahill. Glen Burke was wasteful with a couple of free kicks (one too floaty, one blazed wildly over) and was caught in possession too often. Hanratty and O’Kelly combined well early on down the right as Spartak took control. Rob Deering , on he break, opted to shoot from a narrow angle rather than pass to unmarked colleagues.
At the other end Wayside were thwarted on two occasions, once by Peter O’Toole and once, unluckily, by a deflection.
On the hour Wayside, after a good spell of possession as Spartak lost control of the midfield with the defence lying too deep, won the ball from Stuart Love, and, as Martin Costello unwisely backed off at the edge of the box, the ball was slipped behind Dave Browne for a straightforward goal.
Spartak pressed on with determination, if somewhat raggedly due to over carrying, but were rewarded when Breen’s flick on from Browne’s throw was tucked home by Seamus McCahill for a deserved equaliser.
Form Report
Peter O’Toole 7 Dave O’Kelly 6 Fintan Grace 6 Martin Costello 6 Paul Kinsella 7 Stuart Love 5 Niall Hanratty 6 Glen Burke 5 Niall Tilly 5 Graham Breen 6 Seamus McCahill 7
Subs : Mark Bolger 5 Dan O’Connell 6 Dave Browne 5 Rob Deering 5
