After a very tense match, in which the nearly 10,000 spectators at the Olympic Stadium were worried about Arka’s final success, the Gdynia team finally won against Zagłębie Sosnowiec 1-0. Olaf Kobacki scored priceless three points in the 13th minute from a penalty kick.
Fortuna 1 league – 32nd round of the 2023/24 season
Arka Gdynia – Zagłębie Sosnowiec 1:0 (1:0)
Goals: Kobacki 13′(k)
Back: Lenarcik – Navarro, Marcjanik, Dobrotka, Stolc – Borecki, Skóra (75′ Gaprindaszwili), Milewski (81′ Staniszewski), Adamczyk (59′ Sidibe), Kobacki – Czubak (75′ Turski)
Basin: Kos – Matynia (46′ Janota, 57′ Bębenek), Jończy, Remy – Wrzesiński (69′ Ziemann), Bonecki, Rozwandowicz, Lipka (85′ Szostek), Valencia, Sokół (46′ Fabry) – Biliński
Yellow cards: Dobrotka, Czubak, Kobacki – Sokół, Valencia
Judge: Jacek Małyszek (Lublin); VAR: Tomasz Marciniak (Płock)
Viewers: 9939
The last three steps before the Ark. The last Fortuna 1 Liga team came to Olympijska Street, and the relegation had a liberating effect on them. A week ago, Zagłębie was able to take points away from the winner of the Fortuna Polish Cup, Wisła Kraków, and a little earlier they had a very unfortunate draw with Polonia in Warsaw. Nevertheless, Arka, which was aiming for promotion, was obliged to win this match and get within one point of promotion.
It was known that Arce would not be able to be helped by the injured Gojny and Gol, for whom this season was already over. Fortunately, however, Milewski and Adamczyk recovered, so the problems with the midfield were to be largely resolved. Due to Gojny’s injury, Navarro joined Arka’s eleven, and we have already become accustomed to Borecki’s presence in Janusz Gol’s position. It is also worth mentioning that in Gdynia there is more and more talk about the upcoming derby clash, including: in the context of the threat of cards, but on that day for the yellow and blue team, only the match against Zagłębie was important and speculations before the match in Gdańsk had to be postponed until later.
The match started with two fouls by Dominik Sokół in the midfield. For the first one, the Zagłębie striker received a yellow card, but for the second one, which was a punch to Dobrotka’s face, he did not. And that was the second minute of the match! However, the Ark team started playing football. In the sixth minute, Milewski’s cross reached Czubak’s head in the penalty area. Karol fired a shot at the post, but it was too light and Mateusz Kos managed to catch the ball. A minute later, the Zagłębie goal was boiling again, but this time the Gdynia team failed to take a shot.
In the 10th minute, Kobacki demonstrated his skills by effectively controlling the ball just outside the penalty area, then taking a shot and hitting the crossbar! However, Zagłębie was lucky only until the 12th minute, when Milewski’s action earned Arka a penalty kick. The ball played on the ground hit Matynia’s hand and the referee pointed to the lime! The ball was set at this point by Olaf Kobacki, who instantly gave the yellow and blue team the lead with a confident shot near the post!
The joy of 10,000 fans at Olimpijska Street almost lasted only two minutes, because after that time the ball fell into our goal, but fortunately, the striker, Wrzesiński, was offside when he received the ball. However, this did not change the fact that after conceding the goal, the visitors started to play more boldly and brought the ball into the vicinity of our penalty area, which also somewhat dampened the offensive attitude of the hosts.
In the 23rd minute, a simple mistake by Milewski resulted in a corner kick for the visitors. Matynia’s center was dangerous because Rozwandowicz controlled the ball and played the ball to Sokół, but he fouled Sokół again in the air, this time Czubak, and again avoided a second yellow card. It was more dangerous two minutes later, when Bonecki shot after another corner, but into the side net.
In this phase of the match, the Ark team tried to take the ball away from their opponents in the middle of the pitch and launch quick counterattacks. After such an action initiated by Kobacki, Adamczyk took the opportunity to shoot from 18 meters and hit the post. In the 40th minute, Milewski shot from 16 meters, but the attempt was not successful.
The players of Sosnowiec, knowing that the right winger Przemek Stolc usually plays on the left side of our defense, focused on actions on this side of the pitch. This resulted mainly in corner kicks, which, fortunately for us, resulted in nothing. The Ark team could have ended the first part of the match with a bang, because after the visitors’ corner, Navarro launched a counterattack and launched Kobacki into it. Mateusz Kos was far out of goal and did not have time to reach the ball before Kobacki, but the returning defenders unfortunately prevented Olaf from shooting…
Everyone in the stands hoped that after the change of sides we would see a calmer Arka, which after taking the lead allowed its rivals too much. During the break of the match, the fans could see the winners of the Polish Cup from 45 years ago, the real DNA of Arka Gdynia, which today the owners of our club will try to build on this foundation. This could certainly be helped by promotion to the Ekstraklasa, and for this a victory against Zagłębie would be necessary.
Unfortunately, the incomprehensible nervousness of the Gdynia players did not leave our players also in the second half of the match. From the very beginning, the guests had the ball at their feet and they did it for a long time in the hosts’ half of the field. Only in the 53rd minute did Arkowcy break through to the sixteen players from Sosnowiec. Adamczyk played from the end line, which fell to Navarro, whose shot was unfortunately blocked. A minute later, after a clever play by Czubak, Milewski had an opportunity to shoot and Sebastian shot it right at the post, but Kos managed to intervene.
In the 58th minute, Arkowiec had a dream opportunity to increase their lead. Skóra and Kobacki launched a counterattack, the latter took over the ball, but when he tried to shoot, the defender managed to block it and Kos caught the slowly rolling ball again. However, don’t let these situations fool anyone – Zagłębie still had the ball in Arka’s half for a long time and rarely created chances, such as in the 61st minute when Wrzesiński shot very badly.
Arka’s next counterattack came in the 68th minute. Sidibe and Kobacki started supporting Czubak, who was carrying the ball, but the pass across the goal was intercepted by Kos and we were happy with it. In the 73rd minute, Sidibe received a gift from the defenders, who took the ball into the penalty area, but the Ivorian’s shot did not pose any major problems for the visiting goalkeeper.
In the 78th minute, Turski, who was introduced on the field for Czubak, had a chance. After entering the penalty area with the ball, he fired a strong shot at the near post, but Kos managed again. Time passed and we had a lot of situations worth noting. Only in the 89th minute did Navarro try his hand at taking a free kick. Unfortunately, the hit was too light and inaccurate.
In the 90th minute, Zagłębie could have punished the Gdynia team for their poor performance in the match, as Biliński was close to lucky with a header. Two minutes later, Navarro threw the ball into the visitors’ goal twice, and Borecki, Dobrotka and Turski were looking for shots, but none of them managed to put the ball into the net.
We were worried about the final result until the last whistle, but in the end it did not change. After a very tense match, in which for long stretches Arka seemed paralyzed by the stakes and the opportunity it faced, it finally won against Zagłębie Sosnowiec and won the very, very important three points. The fate of the match between GKS Katowice and Wisła Kraków will decide whether Arka will still need points in the match in Gdańsk. However, before that happens, let’s enjoy the points gained against Zagłębie Sosnowiec, because it did not come easy today.
Arkadiusz Skubek
Arka Gdynia – Zagłębie Sosnowiec
Goals
1
0
Shots
17
12
Accurate
6
2
Corner kicks
5
7
Foul
10
9
Burnt
0
1
Ball possession
45%
55%
Yellow cards
3
2
Red cards
0
0
source of match statistics: State score
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