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.
