Aiden McGeady shows stomach for first Spartak goal

Aiden McGeady was last night celebrating his first goal for Spartak Moscow, after he used his stomach to nudge the ball over the line.

His 77th minute equaliser saved his team from an embarrassing home defeat to Amkar Perm, with the final score 2-2. The 24-year-old's goal came when he instinctively responded to a cross and scored from the right side of the Perm goal.

His club is now in sixth place, but fans were unhappy that Spartak failed to beat one of the weakest teams in the Russian premiership. Despite this, Spartak remain unbeaten in the four matches since the 9.5 million winger has played since joining from Celtic.

Immediately before the game his coach Valery Karpin had predicted the Irish international would score. "So far he did what we first of all expected from him - set up our forwards for goals. But I am sure it is very soon that we will see him finding the back of the net," he said before kick off.

l Aston Villa manager Gerard Houllier last night finally put pen to paper on a three-year contract. Houllier agreed to take charge of the Midlands club just over a fortnight ago as Martin O'Neill's successor. He revealed this week that he had shaken hands with club owner Randy Lerner on the contract and that signing it was merely a formality. But the 63-year-old French man has now signed on the dotted line and formerly committed himself to Villa until the end of the 2012-13 season.