Late Goals Help NEC Past Spartak

The hosts started the match brilliantly and grabbed the lead within two minutes. The referee awarded Spartak a corner kick which was swung into the crowded box and reached Serghei Covalciuc. The midfielder beat his marker to the ball and headed the opener past NEC goalie Gabor Babos.

The Dutch side desperately needed a win and fought back after the early opener. Danish playmaker Lasse Schone got NEC's first chance of the match after eleven minutes, but shot wide from a difficult angle.

Quick forward Joel Tshibamba had a chance to level both sides only minutes later, but the striker hesitated too long and was unable to get a shot on target and trouble the Spartak shot stopper.

The next chance of the match was for tricky winger Moestafa el Kabir after about 20 minutes. However, Spartak goalie Stipe Pletikosa saw the talented youngster 's header going inches wide and the chance went wandering.

The home side regained control of the match without too much effort after El Kabir's header and left NEC possession, ready to hit them on the counter attack.

The guests came really close to scoring the equalizer about ten minutes after the break. Towering centre back Ramon Zomer sent in a powerful header, that looked like ending up in the back of the net. Nevertheless, Pletikosa pulled of a superb save to keep a clean sheet.

NEC dominated the match after the interval, but Spartak got a huge chance to double their lead. Substitute Alexander Prudnikov fired in a powerful shot, but saw his attempt being saved by the NEC goalie.

Minutes later, Roman Shishkin failed to add his name to the score sheet after a quick counter attack, too. Once again Gabor Babos proved his worth for the Dutch side and pulled off yet another classy save.

The Hungarian shot stopper never stood a chance against Ivan Saenko's strike with ten more minutes to go. However, the post kept NEC's chances alive.
 
Substitute Jhon van Beukering, who came off the bench at half time to replace Tshibamba, leveled both sides in the 85th minute. Fellow striker Collins John headed the ball through and van Beukering headed home from close range to equalize.

Man of the match Lasse Schone made things even worse for the Russians only two minutes later. Collins John created the space for the midfielder with some intelligent movement and Schone didn't hesitate to unleash a ferocious left footed strike from inside the area to help his side to the full three points.

NEC, Spartak Moscow and Dinamo Zagreb are sitting joined third in the group with three points after today's results. However, Zagreb have already played four matches and can only hope for a miracle to finish third.

Line-ups:

Spartak Moscow: Pletikosa; Parshivlyuk, Jiranek, Fathi, Shishkin; Bazhenov, Zotov (Ivanov/46), Covalciuc, Pavlenko (Maidana/73); Saenko, Maloyan (Prudnikov/58)

NEC: Babos; Fernandez, Wisgerhof, Zomer, El Akchaoui; Sibum (John/64), Davids, Schone; El Kabir (Worm/74), Tshibamba (Van Beukering/46), Bouaouzan

Yellow Cards: Zotov, Jiranek, Ivanov (Spartak Moscow); Fernandez (NEC)

Red Cards: none

Goals:

1-0, Covalciuc 2'
1-1, Van Beukering 85'
1-2, Schone 87'
           
Stefan Coerts, Goal.com