Nicholson gears up for Russian Cup semis
Jamaica forward Shamar Nicholson will look to continue his good form in the Russia for Spartak Moscow when he laces up for the Russian Cup semi-final against Yenisey Krasnoyarsk today.
Nicholson, who scored two goals at the weekend to bring his Russian Premier League tally to five, scored three goals in his team’s 6-1 win in the round-of-16 against Kuban Krasnodar.
He scored 13 in the Belgian First Division in this season before moving to Russia.
Nicholson’s agent, Kevin Cowan, praised the striker for being one of the first Jamaicans to hit the 20-goal mark in a European season, despite doing it across two leagues, and he expects him to continue impacting the fortunes of the Russian club.
Cowan is also looking for a big performance today.
“He wants to score as many goals for the team and help them to win as many matches,” he said. “So I expect him to stand up and be counted and show what he can do and why the club brought him there.
“The club they play in the semi-final knocked out one of the favourites (Lokomotiv Moscow- sixth in the league standings), so it is going to be hard. But Shamar can always be counted on to lead from the front and the club will lean on him in this match and he will give everything he can to get them into the final.
“So he will show up and be ready to fight. It will be a difficult match but he will be ready for it.”
Nicholson left Charleroi in Belgium in January after two and a half seasons. His two goals in a 3-1 win over Ural in the league last Saturday helped Spartak climb one place to ninth in the table.