Booth Road Celtic 4 Spartak 2
The wheels came off the Spartak bandwagon in Corkagh Park on Saturday.
A timid first half display allowed the home side to bully their way to superiority. Niall Hanratty, so influential the previous week, was caught in possession and guilty of careless use of the ball. He missed an early chance when , after good work by Mick Costello, he dragged his shot wide from a good position.
Booth attacked strongly and the sky blue back four stood off with disastrous results. Martin Costello cleared off the line but on 15 minutes Dillon Burke was brushed aside, and while Mick Greene parried the shot, Booth were sharper to the loose ball to take the lead.
A good move started by Chris Hogan led to Shane McInerney driving home for the equaliser after 26 minutes. But parity was short lived and a free conceded by Shane led to number two on 35 minutes when the free was converted. Dillon Burke, having an off day, was caught for goal number 3 on 38 minutes, leaving Spartak with a mountain to climb.
Booth started the second period well and their striker rounded Mick Greene, but over ran the ball.
Niall Lennon blazed over from 6 yards in a glorious oportunity to get Spartak back into the game, and Dave O’Kelly was wide with another effort.
In general Spartak were not passing the ball well enough and also losing all the 50/50s, preferring to moan at the ref instead of buckling down to the task of matching the aggression of the local side.
Indeed some of the unforced passing errors only served to increase the levels of frustration as Spartak ried to recover.
With just minutes left and Spartak pressing, Martin Costello struck the post, the ball fell to Dave O’Kelly who also struck the post before heading the rebound home.
With seconds left, Ross Kelly just failed to connect with Derek McGoldrick’s cross, but the ball was cleared and a slip by Cathal Clancy , bereft of cover at the back, led to number 4.
Form Report
Mick Greene 6 Chris Hogan 4 Dillon Burke 4 Martin Costello 5 Cathal Clancy 6 Shane McInerney 6 Niall Hanratty 4 Ryan Burke 4 Derek McGoldrick 6 Ross Kelly 6 Mick Costello 4
Subs Dave O’Kelly 4 Niall Lennon 4 Rob Flanagan 4 Jason Northey Eoin Grogan
