Okay. Enough of private life. Let’s see the game.
We had an "in medias res" start and attacked Radnički so hard from the very first minute, that they had to work overtime to find their breath. Already in the 4th minute we had a free kick, Janković shot, it was too high. A minute later came Everton and his (also too high) shot. In the 8th minute Tawamba crossed the ball to the middle, Đurđević made some magic (dribbling all around), but he was tackled. Three minutes later Janković’s cross arrived, Leonardo got it, all doors and windows were open, but he was blocked by defenders, and it was also flag up. And so on. We continuously attacked in the first 20 minutes, we didn’t allow the home team even to collapse for the lack of oxygen. There was a suspicious scene in the 22nd minute, Janković fell on the ground inside the penalty area of Radnički. The referee whistled, but not for penalty, instead he gave a yellow card to Janković for acting.
Volkov and Janković. Volkov is still a damn good player, may the Almighty collapse the sky to all the imbecile idiots in Partizan’s leadership for not running head over heels to sign Volkov - and Kojić - back to Partizan, instead they let them sign to Radnički
Then the pace slowed down a bit, but Partizan still controlled the game. In the 31st minute we got a free kick. Leonardo shot it to the box, the goalkeeper had a great save. In the 35th minute Đurđević was dribbling in the penalty area, the goalkeeper saved in the last minute, ending the attempt with a corner kick. Radnički’s first chance to mention was in the 37th minute. Travančić ran up with the ball, dribbled himself through Ostojić, then shot, barely missing the box. Two minutes later Kojić
aaaaarrrggghhhh, it was terrible to see him and Volkov not wearing Partizan’s jersey
crossed to Stojanović. Stojanović shot, it was saved to corner kick. Finally in the 41st minute Radnički had a counter-attack, again Travančić ran up, he shot, it was too wide.
Grave Diggers
In the second half we continued our "attack continuously"-tactics, possessing the ball, the goal was visibly around the corner for us. We had two huge chances in a row, Đurđević shot (and missed) both, first in the 47th minute, when the goalkeeper saved in the last moment, then a minute later he was dribbling and dribbling, then shot, Average Fan almost screamed "GOAAALLL", but instead the ball hit the side net.
Seriously, he missed the box with half a millimetre only. I will have to have a defibrillator at hand for such cases. I’m getting too old for this.
In the 51st minute Kojić missed a shot with millimetres.
Other than this Radnički had no mentionable action in the second half. Kljajić surely got bored to death in the box. Hopefully he had at least some crossword puzzles with himself or something.
Two minutes later Volkov saved from Tawamba in the last minute.
Tawamba was slowly turning into Bojinov. Don’t take me wrong, I like this Cameroonian guy a lot - he is much more likeable than the Bulgarian -, but it was Bojinov who made so much missed-out-barely attempts like Tawamba at this game. I hope though Tawamba will score goals. A lot of goals.
We attacked, though we started to get more and more tensed. It was a very hard job to break through Radnički’s defense line - well, if Volkov is in the defense line, you can’t break through even with a tank - the home players were ruthless, sometimes on the verge of being unsportsmanlike. Then finally came the 69th minute. Janković crossed from the left, Ostojić pushed it with the head, Đurđević got it, shot and scored. And I’d bet on anything that Volkov let the ball go, just a little bit. Nevertheless a big high five to him. A Grave Digger will always be a Grave Digger. 0:1
Post-goal celebration. Deep in the mass of players you will find Đurđević somewhere
The pace slowed down after the goal. There were barely any attempts, and even those were all missed out. The game was fragmented. The only scene to mention was when Kojić - after he collided with Ostojić and fell on the ground with a painful scream - yelled off the referee, and I don’t say that Kojić was wrong. (The scene happened right at an ambience microphone, everything could be heard clearly.) Then it was already the extra time, everyone was wating for the final whistle, everyone calmed down knowing we made it, when Leonardo got a pass from Kosović and shot it right there. The distance was at least 35 metres (some sources talk about 40), it was visible on the shot that Leonardo probably didn’t mean it too seriously. Yet the ball fell into the net. WHAT A GOAL, WHAT AN AMAZING GOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLL!!!!! 0:2
A well-deserved celebration
These images were made after the game. I have no idea where Tawamba got these sunglasses from, but they were surely great to wear in the reflectors’ light (or not)
"Svi kao jedan"
Highlights:
Facts:
Venue: Stadium Čair, Niš
Number of spectators: 8000
Official: Lazar Lukić (assistants: Milan Mihajlović, Dragan Bogićević - 4th official: Danilo Grujić)
Radnički Niš: Zogović, Volkov, Živković, Stojanović, Travančić (Apostolović, 74.), Arsić, Petrović, Tomić, Noma (Mrkić, 68.), Kojić (Jovanović, 90.), Perendija
Head coach: Milan Rastavac
FK Partizan: Kljajić, Vulićević, Ostojić, Milenković, Miletić, Jevtović (Kosović, 65.), Everton, Janković, Leonardo (Đuričković, 90+3.), Đurđević (Radin, 90+3.), Tawamba
Head coach: Marko Nikolić
Goal scorers: Đurđević (69.), Leonardo (90+2.)
Yellow card: Janković (22.), Perendija (43.), Milenković (45+1.), Volkov (78.), Kojić (86.)
Current championship standings:
1. CZ 73 points
2. FK Partizan 67 points
3. Vojvodina 57 points
4. Napredak 46 points
5. Mladost 44 points
6. Radnički Niš 43 points
7. FK Voždovac 40 points
8. FK Javor 39 points
9. FK Spartak 37 points
10. Čukarički 36 points
11. Rad 32 points
12. Metalac 26 points
13. Radnik 24 points
14. OFK Bačka 24 points
15. Novi Pazar 20 points
16. Borac 18 points
(photos: partizan.rs)