| Arriving on the back of an
historic hatrick of victories, Spartak were keen to extend this run. However this
plan seemed doomed when Spartak could only get 10 players by 10:30 and the emergency
services were called, aka Doc, to get an 11th player as soon as possible. This meant
the game had to start with Spartak only fielding 10. This number could have been a
lot worse had Simmonds and Tullin not stepped in to fill two of the three vacant midfield
positions.
With Doc on the way the instructions were to keep it
tight for the first twenty minutes but this soon went wrong when a hopeful ball behind
the defense resulted in a miskicked shot, wrong footing Paul, going in off the post.
Minutes later a Cosmos striker was clean through again but a combination of
pressure from Owen and a good tip over from Paul prevented a second goal. After
this, despite some persistent pressure from Cosmos, Spartak held firm and prevented
any further clear cut chances. On the half hour Doc arrived and the extra man soon
made the difference with Spartak able to start passing it around a bit. The pressure
soon told when a cross field ball from Dave fell to the feet of Doc who layed it off
to Pete. Pete got to the by-line and whipped in a superb cross which missed everyone
but not the goal, 1-1 at half time.
This late equaliser meant
Spartak could build again from the beginning and with their new found faith in their
ability to score were confident they could go out and take this game.
And take it they did. Right from the off Spartak were creating and in
a matter of minutes had taken the lead. A good ball down the line was latched on to
by Chris who crossed to Dave and unmarked was left to tap in. Two minutes later the
compliment was repayed and a big kick from the back was accurately flicked on by
Dave into the path of Chris who took one touch and let fire with a bullet of a shot
which flew past the keeper.
Cosmos then rallyed slightly and
created a couple of half chances, one which was well saved by the keeper and a
header that went wide from a pinpoint cross.
Again Spartak managed
to raise their game and after some quick short passing on the edge of the box Bren
slotted the ball past the keeper. This would have been enough but when a corner that
was only half cleared fell to Simmonds on the edge of the box he let fly with a shot
that flew into the opposite corner. Another good win that earlier in the season
might have eluded Spartak. Some good performances by Fricker Jnr in nets, Tullin and
Owen, but man of the match goes to Heathy for a solid performance at right back.
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