Arka repeated its achievement from this spring and won 3-0 against Polonia at Konwiktorska in Warsaw! Sobczak, Vitalucci and Czubak scored their first goals of the season, while Gaprindashvili provided two assists and Adam Jakubczyk, who was making his debut for Arka that evening, made one.
3rd round – Betclic 1 league
Polonia Warsaw – Arka Gdynia 0:3 (0:1)
Goals: Sobczak 18′, Vitalucci 70′, Czubak 90+1′
Poland: Kuchta – Grundniewski, Kołodziejski, Cisse, Zawistowski (74′ Hoxhollari), Poczobut, Wojciechowski, Durmus, Bajdur, Terpiłowski (66′ Auzmendi), Zjawiński (74′ Kobusiński)
Back: Lenarcik – Navarro, Gorecki, Marcjanik, Gojny – Gaprindashvili (87′ Jakubczyk), Rzuchowski, Borecki (80′ Zielinski), Oliveira (80′ Ratajczyk) – Skóra (62′ Vitalucci) – Sobczak (62′ Czubak)
Yellow cards: Cisse
Judge: Wojciech Myć (Lublin); VAR: Tomasz Wajda (Żywiec)
Viewers:
For the second time this season, Arka went on a business trip, and its goal was to reach for a full set of points. The address was the capital, specifically the stadium at Konwiktorska, where this year coach Łobodziński’s team had already achieved a certain, undisputed victory. However, this is a new campaign, a new Arka and a new Polonia, so there was no point in referring to the past.
The yellow and blues started the match in a very similar formation to the one that brought victory at Olimpijska a week ago. The only change was the introduction of Skóra, who has impressed with his effectiveness and high disposition in recent days, and this was at the expense of Hide Vitalucci. On the home side, Marcel Predenkiewicz, who was loaned from Gdynia, was not in the starting line-up, due to a relevant provision in the contract between the two clubs.
As in previous matches, Arka took the initiative from the start. In the first minutes, Sobczak fought with Polonia’s defenders, while Gaprindashvili and Skóra tried to scare on the wing. However, the hosts did not passively watch the actions of the Gdynia team and won a corner kick themselves, but Durmus did not pose a greater threat with his cross. The game evened out quite quickly, and both sides participated in offensive actions with similar intensity.
In the 18th minute, Arka took the lead. Borecki took the ball in Polonia’s half and initiated an action, which was continued on the right side by Gaprindashvili, the Georgian precisely crossed to the seventh meter, and Sobczak ran in perfectly in time and his header was just a formality!
The players from the capital wanted to respond quickly, specifically Zawistowski, who shot strongly from outside the penalty area, but straight at Lenarcik. Arka, on the other hand, could have followed up, because the counterattack by Skóra looked promising. It’s a pity that Kacper lacked the decision to either pass to Gaprindashvili, who was moving into position, or to shoot, because the opponents took advantage of his hesitation and took the ball.
The Georgian came close to an impressive assist in the 30th minute, when, at full speed, he decided to pass between the central defenders, behind whom Oliveira was already running, and it really was very close to the Swiss coming face to face with Kuchta. Four minutes later, after a corner kick taken by Navarro, the very active Gaprindashvili had a chance to shoot, and after intercepting the deflected ball, Kacper Skóra. Unfortunately, the scorer of the winning goal against ŁKS clearly missed this time.
In the 41st minute, the Georgian in Arka colours used his speed again and ran with the ball to the centre of the pitch, then fired a shot from 18 metres, but hit… Skóra’s back and the ball flew over the crossbar. Two minutes later, Skóra’s action failed again, because he didn’t receive a great pass from Borecki from the right wing very well and, being on the line of the penalty area, instead of shooting, he had to chase the ball and the chance to increase the lead before the break was lost.
After the break, the hosts took the lead. For the first 10 minutes of the second half, they prevented the Arkowcy from leaving their own half of the pitch, and they also won several set pieces. It was dangerous in the 58th minute, when a pass with the outside of Poczobut’s foot almost reached Zjawiński right in front of our goal. In response, the Gdynia team countered and Gaprindashvili almost beat the goalkeeper from Warsaw.
The next two minutes saw two actions from both sides, in which goals were in the air. First, an individual action by Wojciechowski was capped by a dangerous shot saved by Lenarcik, and then Tornike found himself with the ball in Polonia’s penalty area and found space to shoot, but once again the ball did not find its way into the goal.
In the 62nd minute, coach Łobodziński made changes: Czubak came in for Sobczak, and Vitalucci for Skóra. Already in the 70th minute, Arka was rewarded for these adjustments – in a counterattack from the right wing, Gaprindashvili made a perfect pass to Vitalucci, and the Japanese player dashed into the penalty area, where he fired a powerful shot at Kuchta’s goal. The ball brushed Grudniewski’s leg and fluttered into the net!
In the 79th minute, Vitalucci should have had a double. Navarro made a great pass over the defenders into the penalty area, the Japanese player received the ball perfectly, but with Kuchta closing the angle, the shot flew over the crossbar.
In the following minutes, Arka fully controlled the course of events on the pitch. The hosts’ rather desperate attacks did not cause Arka any major problems until the 89th minute, when there was a commotion in our goal area after Grudniewski’s cross. Lenarcik had trouble catching the ball, but referee Myć noticed the Polonia players’ foul.
In the first minute of added time, Arka increased their lead to 3:0! Adam Jakubczyk, who had appeared on the pitch three minutes earlier, made a perfect pass to Czubak, who went out to face the goalkeeper alone and did not waste the opportunity! In this way, both of our strikers opened their goal account in this match this season! Jakubczyk, on the other hand, recorded an assist in his debut!
Before the final whistle in this match, both Arka and Polonia could have tried to score goals. Kobusiński had a great opportunity, but his shot from 16 meters was saved by Lenarcik. A moment later, Czubak again took a pass from Jakubczyk and was again alone in front of Kuchta, but this time he did not win the duel with the goalkeeper.
Arka repeated the result from this spring and scored three goals at Konwiktorska again, while maintaining a clean sheet. The most important thing is that they collected their second set of points in the third match, and their game seems to be getting better and better and elusive for the opponent. Sobczak and Czubak started scoring, Vitalucci scored, Gaprindashvili recorded more assists, and the debuting Jakubczyk also entered the minutes with the last pass. Well done Arka players, there are reasons to be happy and optimistic!
Arkadiusz Skubek
PICK YOUR PLAYER OF THE MATCH
video material coming soon
Polonia Warsaw – Arka Gdynia
Goals
0
3
Shots
6
12
Customs
5
4
Corner kicks
5
5
Throw-ins
17
16
Burnt
4
1
Possession of the ball
45%
55%
Yellow cards
1
0
Red cards
0
0
photo gallery from the match coming soon
