[Spartak] Premier Sat at Malahide

Our first win of the season was well deserved.

Malahide have been something of a bogey team in the last few years. We always seem to underperform against them and never get a decent result (a fantastic Cup victory from two seasons ago notwithstanding).

Our starting team was Massey, Greene, O'Connell, Mohan, Keane, Byrne, Cooney, R. Maher, Brehony, Dawson, McNamee. Subs: O'Hara for Greene, Reid for McNamee, T. Maher for Mohan.

We started pretty well playing against the breeze and up the hill. We still have a tendency to hoof the ball too much, but the wind tempered that in the first half and we built a number of decent moves, without creating a lot of clear-cut chances.

Their goal came about 20 mins in and against the run of play. Mohan was turned on the sideline, the forward reached to byline and crossed the ball onto the body of an onrushing attacker, who bundled the ball in. It was a bad goal to concede.

I have criticised ourselves a lot lately for lack of physicality in the challenge, and an all-round lack of competitiveness. On Saturday, there was much more battle in the team. Our equaliser was well deserved. I won the ball in a tackle around the middle, laying it off to Rob Maher. Maher put Dawson down the wing and he cut into the box, pulling it back for Brehony. Brehony first shot was blocked, but he scored the header.

Going in a half-time 1-1 was at least what we deserved.

The manager ripped shreds off us at halftime. He wanted the effort and bite upped dramatically in the second half. It simply was not good enough, and we needed more pride. While I felt I had done all that, from a team perspective, he was spot.

We pretty much dominated the second-half, and I had a chance when the ball dropped in the 6-yard box from a throw. I drew the boot, but it deflected off Byrne (who couldn't get out of the way) and the keeper and was cleared. That was frustrating.

The winner came from a free-kick taken by Rob Maher from about 25 yards out. His eyes placed the ball at the far post, but actually hit a zinger inside the near post. The keeper got a hand to it, but it had far too much pace.

After that, we controlled the game and finished out a comfortable enough victory. Our first 3-pointer of the season, it felt fantastic to finally get a victory. It had been a long time coming.

Our team is improving as we play more matches, and I am a little more optimistic than I was earlier in the season.