Czech Republic round-up: Seven up for Sparta

Heavy work
With their main rivals for the Czech title, FC Slovan Liberec and SK Slavia Praha, playing out a goalless draw, the league leaders made heavy work of overcoming the bottom side at the Letná stadium, despite the return of former West Ham United FC defender Vladimír Labant after a three-month injury lay-off.

Resistance broken
Sparta finally broke the deadlock thanks to Lukáš Zelenka's brilliant individual effort after 60 minutes and Libor Sionko sealed the victory with a second goal in the dying seconds.

Goalless draw
Defending champions Liberec did Sparta a favour by holding their local rivals Slavia at bay. Slavia wasted their share of chances in Liberec as captain Richard Dostálek missed an open goal and Lukáš Došek flashed a cross just past the post, and the home side hung on for a point.

Zizkov in third
However, Liberec could not hold on to third place, as FK Viktoria Zizkov edged into the UEFA Cup position with a victory at 1. FC Synot. Jirí Kowalík opened the scoring for the home side with his 12th goal of the season but strikes by Tomáš Oravec and Roman Janoušek secured the win for Zizkov.

Musil on target
Elsewhere, FC Baník Ostrava suffered a third successive defeat at 1. FC Brno, where Petr Musil scored the only goal, and FK Teplice continued their slide down the table with a 2-1 home defeat by FC Zlín. SK Ceské Budéjovice drew 0-0 against FK Chmel Blšany, and the game between SK Sigma Olomouc and FC Príbram also ended in stalemate.

No joy for Bohemians
CU Bohemians Praha remain in trouble near the foot of the table after a 1-1 home draw against FK Jablonec 97. Jirí Svojtka's dismissal 20 minutes from the end gave Bohemians a man advantage, but it still took a late equaliser from Aleš Bednár to cancel out Tomáš Michálek's opener for visitors.