The match started with a minute of silence for the memory of Blagoje Paunović, who passed the day before the match.
Then the guests immediately attacked Partizan’s goal. Thankfully they missed, it was even offside. The answer came with Ninković, he had a distant shot, the goalkeeper saved it to corner. The kick was cleared by defenders, then Ninković got the ball again and passed it to Drinčić. Drinčić shot, the goalkeeper caught the ball.
In the 8th minute Ninković was again in the centre of attention. He ran up, had a great solo, dribbled himself through the defenders and shot, the goalkeeper saved.
After the first 10 minutes the match’s pace slowed down. The next chance came in the 17th minute. Škuletić sent the ball to Marković with a great "Oxford" movement. The midfielder shot, the goalkeeper saved. Asteras had one or two weak tries in the meantime, as for us, we got a corner in the 23rd minute. Stanković headed the ball towards the net, the goalkeeper caught it. (Theodoropoulos had a busy day in the office...) 3 minutes later Ninković gave a pass to Grbić. He kicked the ball to Volkov, the defender shot, Theodoropoulos saved.
Asteras had a distant shot in the 30th minute, Gianniotas did it from 18 metres. Lukač had a great save. Four minutes later we got a free kick about 20 metres from the goal line. Drinčić stood behind the ball, shot, the goalkeeper caught it.
Here came a period when fans singing and holding banners were much interesting and entertaining than the match itself...
Then in the 42nd minute Živković got the ball from Ninković and ran up. He got a defender on his back inside the penalty area and the two started to wrestle. Partizan’s midfielder fell on the ground and stayed there with a painful face. RTS replayed it in slow motion a few times from different angles. It was clear Asteras’s defender did not touch the ball while pushing Živković down. Yet the Polish referee was adamant and waved for goal kick, despite Volkov’s angry gesticulations.
Asteras had a try left for the last minute of the first half, but the ball flew out of the field above the crossbar.
The second half started with the Chance of the Day (or rather The Missed Chance of the Day...) Škuletić got the ball from the right side and shot. The goalkeeper saved, the ball dropped in front of Živković. The midfielder was tackled by a defenders, after this he kicked the ball precisely to Ninković. Ninković shot - and the ball hit the goalpost. Two minutes later he tried again, now hitting the goalkeeper.
In the 53rd minute we got a free kick. Asteras’s goalkeeper saved to corner, while players were wrestling with each other. Ninković fell on the ground, then Volkov, too, finally the referee showed the yellow card to Volkov. (Why?...)
There was silence until the 68th minute, finally Škuletić ran up, dribbling himself through Asteras-players on the left side and shot. It was too high, the ball left the field above the crossbar.
A minute later he got a pass from Volkov. Škuletić jumped up to head the ball into the net, but he missed the ball with just one step. In the 71st minute he shot again, now from the right side, the ball rolled out of the playing ground near the left goalpost. Škuletić kicked again the ball to the goal in the 71st minute, this time from the right side, the ball rolled out of the playing field near the left goalpost.
In the 74th minute Grbić was substituted by Saša Ilić. The audience was cheering loud and ecstatic chanting "Jedan je Ilić kapiten".
A minute later Asteras got into a chance-alike situation, first time after long minutes. The ball got stuck on Partizan defenders, finally Lukač saved.
In the 76th minute Škuletić got a marvellous pass from Ninković - and shot way above the crossbar.
Two minutes later opponent player Fernández kicked it to our goal, but it was both weak and way too wide. It did not cause any headache for Lukač. In the 84th minute we got a free kick above 25-30 metres from the goal line. The shot hit the wall, there was an upheaval then, but we still possessed the ball. Finally Luka headed the ball to the goal, but missed.
In the 90th minute Lukač had an amazing save. He was all alone against about 3 opponent attackers passing the ball to each other, while our defenders were watching amused.
Facts:
Venue: Partizan Stadium
Number of spectators: 5000
Referee: Pawel Gil (assistants: Piotr Sadczuk, Marcin Borkowski - 4th assistant: Konrad Sapela - goal line assistants: Bartosz Frankowski, Krzysztof Jakubik) - POL
FK Partizan: Lukač - B. Ilić, Petrović, Stanković, Volkov - Grbić (S. Ilić, 74.), Drinčić, Marković, Živković - Ninković (Luka, 81.) - Škuletić (Kojić, 89.)
Head coach: Marko Nikolić
Asteras Tripolis: Theodoropoulos - Panteliadis, Sankaré, Lluy - Tsokanis, Zisopoulos, Tie Bi (Mazza, 75.), Munafo - Bakasetas (Badibanga, 72.), Barrales, Gianniotas (Fernández, 63.)
Head coach: Staikos Vergetis
Yellow card: Bakasetas (22.), Tie Bi (33.), Drinčić (46.), B. Ilić (54.), Volkov (59.), Tsokanis (82.), Luka (90+2.)
(photos: Facebook/Fudbalski klub Partizan)
Football-related news is that Marko Nikolić was punished by FSS after the scandal at the match against Novi Pazar. (The story still keeps itself that Partizan’s trainer told referee Glođović what to do, how and with whom in a not really literary style after the referee was unwilling to pause the match when home fans threw a firecracker to Nikolić’s head.) FSS said Nikolić is banned "until further notice". Hereby I send my most sincere congratulations to everyone at the association, as Partizan will not play any official match until the middle of next February. I hope those smart people there will receive a Nobel Prize soon.
It very much seems so this was Volkov's last match wearing Partizan's jersey :( The defender plans to transfer to another club during this winter. In an interview he said: his contract will expire next summer. If he can find a new team now, then Partizan can still earn from his transfer.
Now raise yourself and salute for him.
No comments:
Post a Comment