29.8.15
Mid Sutton 2, Spartak 8
Spartak overcame an inexperienced Mid Sutton side with some ease in the end, having waited till the 33rd minute to open the scoring.
The Sky Blues began shakily enough, and an error and foul by Conor Canavan saw the locals awarded a free, which, luckily, came to nothing.
With Niall Hanratty dominating the middle of the park, Spartak created many openings in the first half hour, but invariably chose the wrong option. When a team has a period of domination without punishing the opposition, there is always the concern that missing those chances will return to haunt them, and the locals had a good opportunity during this period, but fired over.
So it was that when Conor Callis’ deflected shot beat the keeper for the opener, it was greeted with relief in the Sky Blue ranks.
Chris Hogan blasted a chance high and wide after a good move before Jeff Gamble fired in via the crossbar for number two, and just on half time Conor Callis slalomed past a number of defenders before driving in a third goal.
Any thoughts of a second half home revival were quashed just 2 minutes after the restart, when Callis claimed his hattrick from Gamble’s pass. Then a great Mick Costello cross was scrambled clear only as far as Hogan who crossed for Ciaran Bermingham to neatly head home and open his account for Spartak.
A lapse of concentration by Mick Leslie saw the home side reduce arrears, and late on Niall Hanratty took some of the gloss off a battling performance with a drilled own goal.
But Spartak added three more; Fintan Grace marked his return from a year long injury absence by converting a penalty after Jeff Gable was fouled; Conor Callis added his fourth; and sub Stephen Bermingham neatly chipped in number 8.
Form Report
Greg Byrne 7 Chris Hogan 7 Steve Browne 8 Fintan Grace 8 Mick Greene 6 Niall Hanratty 8 Conor Canavan 6 Jeff Gamble 8 Mick Leslie 6 Ciaran Bermingham 7 Conor Callis 9
Subs: Mick Costello 7 Stephen Bermingham 6 Bobby Hayes 6
