Russia (14) v (2) Sierra Leone

By Tim Beissmann

RUSSIA took on Sierra Leone today at the Melbourne Pitch and came away victorious, winning 14 -2 despite the efforts of the Sierra Leone side.

Russia's Maxim Shesterkov put home his team's first after spinning his way out of a tight position.

He and fellow striker Andrey Pletnev, affectionately known as "Bond" to the crowd for his 007 shirt number, went goal for goal and pushed the Russian lead out to four.

Sierra Leone keeper Mohamed Mansaray worked bravely and withheld much of the Russian onslaught, but needed help from his troops to keep the ball out of defence.

Despite looking quick and dangerous on the rebound, Sierra Leone conceded another five goals for the first half, shared between Aleksandr Khachiyan, David Davtyan and Valeriy Kalachev to take the tally to 9-0.

Sierra Leone lifted their intensity in the second half and the play evened up substantially.

Mahmoud Bah put through his country's first goal much to the pleasure of the crowd, who rose from their seats for the solid strike.

The Sierra Leone mids tightened up on their opponents and showed the physicality that was missing in the first half, but a hat-trick from Russia's Rostislav Zhuravlev within three minutes sealed the result.

A desperate save and a last minute assault from Sierra Leone showed they never dropped their heads, but were simply outclassed in the end by the top of the table Russian team, destined to make a serious challenge for this year's Homeless World Cup.

Photos: Photoworx