4.3.12 Spartak 4, Brighton Celtic 0 With resources stretched due to injury, illness and a certain Saturday wedding, Spartak did enough to bag the three points in a comfortable win over Brighton. A few players clearly felt the impact of a full 90 minutes on a fairly heavy pitch, and the pace in the second half fell considerably as legs became heavy. The Sky Blues had a few penalty shouts, the clearest of which was when Graham McEnroe was tripped in the box; otherwise early efforts were confined to a weak Glen Burke header and a shot from distance by Dave Browne which was well wide. Glen Burke won a challenge and set McEnroe away on 24 minutes, and Graham Breen neatly tucked away the cross. Two minutes later Dave Thomson poked home after a Steve Grier throw was deflected into his path. Grier than made a timely goal line clearance to prevent the visitors getting back in the game before a nice move between Thomson and McEnroe in the 39th gave Burke the crossing opportunity; when Breen's effort rebounded Neil McGowan nodded home. The second half was played at a more leisurely pace with Spartak missing a couple of chances; Dave Thomson will regret not adding to his total with a one on one effort which was too tame and another, after dispossessing the defender but shooting weakly wide. The fourth goal in the 60th minute saw McGowan fire a fine long pass to the right; Breen beat the full back and crossed for McEnroe to finish the scoring. A satisfactory result; fitness issues persist with some players. Form Report (per Barry Crowe for a change) Brian O'Keefe 7 Anto Doyle 7 Dave Browne 6 Steve Grier 8 Keith Kelly 8 Graham McEnroe 7 Neil McGowan 8 Glen Burke 7 Dave Thomson 8 Graham Breen 8 Thom O'Driscoll 7 Subs: Paul Kinsella 6 Conor Canavan 6