Znicz Pruszków turned out to be the first team in 2024 that found a way to defeat Arka Gdynia. The yellow and blue team, struggling with health problems, was surprised twice after actions by Majewski and Nagamatsu, which were successfully completed by the Japanese. The defeat did not change Arka’s situation in the table, where the Gdynia team maintains second place and a safe point advantage over the play-off zone.
Fortuna 1 league – 29th round of the 2023/24 season
Znicz Pruszków – Arka Gdynia 2:0 (0:0)
Goals: Nagamatsu 55′, 68′
Snitch: Misztal – Proczek (87′ Krajewski), Juchymowycz, Kendzia, Grudziński, Moskwik (87′ Wawszczyk) – Nagamatsu (90′ Nowak), Tkaczuk, Pomorski – Tabara (81′ Wójcicki), Majewski.
Back: Lenarcik – Stolc, Marcjanik, Dobrotka, Gojny – Gaprindashwili, Borecki, Sidibe (71′ Hafez), Skóra (46′ Turski) – Kobacki, Czubak
Yellow cards: Grudziński, Wawszczyk – Borecki, Gaprindashwili, Dobrotka
Judge: Wojciech Myć (Lublin); VAR: Jacek Małyszek (Lublin)
Viewers:
The closer we get to the end of the season, the more often we start to calculate how many points the yellow and blue team need to guarantee direct promotion to the Ekstraklasa. Arkowiec went to Pruszków as the favorite and we hoped that they would return from there with points, and any gain from this match would bring our team closer to achieving the goal everyone in Gdynia dreamed of.
Unfortunately, the task facing Wojciech Łobodziński’s team was complicated by injuries, which only multiplied after the match against Wisła Płock. The injured Sebastian Milewski was joined by Janusz Gol and Hubert Adamczyk, which almost completely rebuilt the midfield in the Gdynia team. Fortunately, the substitutes performed exemplary, so the optimism before the clash with Znicz remained unchanged.
Arka started working hard from the first minute of the match. High pressing, attempted crosses into the penalty area – there was plenty of this from the visitors. Already in the third minute, we recorded the first shot on goal by Kacper Skóra, which the Znicz goalkeeper parried for a corner kick. Unfortunately, the set piece did not result in even a shot on goal by Misztal.
Znich created the first threat to our goal in the 7th minute of the match thanks to a set piece. Majewski centered a free kick from the side of the pitch, and Tabara managed to head the ball, but did not direct it into the goal. We had to wait five minutes for the rematch when Karol Czubak shot from 17 meters and the ball flew high above the hosts’ goal. Dobrotka made an equally serious mistake in the 15th minute when he headed in Kobacki’s cross from a corner kick.
Gaprindashvili did much better in the 22nd minute when he decided to shoot from a distance. After being hit by the Georgian, the ball was aimed at the goal and caused some problems for Misztal, but eventually the Znicz goalkeeper took control of the situation. Four minutes later, the Gdynia team launched a counterattack from their own half of the field, and at the key moment Kobacki played into the penalty area to Czubak, who was overtaken by Kendzia at the last moment and we didn’t even see a shot on goal.
In the 32nd minute, Arka came closest to success. Then Gaprindashvili made a brilliant center from the right side, and from 14 meters Czubak fired a header towards the corner of the goal. However, Misztal did great and prevented the Pruszków team from losing a goal with an impressive save. Two minutes later, Nagamatsu showed a dangerous side and tried to shoot from a distance, but it clearly missed and Lenarcik didn’t even have to intervene.
Three minutes before the break, Gaprindashvili scored on target for the second time that day. This time, the Georgian himself entered the penalty area with the ball from the right side and fired a shot from a sharp angle, and Misztal could only return the ball, which he did very effectively, because the ball was directed far beyond the hosts’ sixteen.
Kacper Skóra did not come out for the second half. Hubert Turski was delegated to play in his place. Although the hosts attacked first after the game was resumed, they failed to create a greater threat to the Gdynia goal. In the 48th minute, it could have been dangerous on the other side of the field, because the ball sent into the penalty area by Gaprindashvili slightly missed Czubak who was running there.
The Georgian took a free kick in the 54th minute of the match. Another cross into the Znicz penalty area, however, did not reach any of the Gdynia players. A minute later, unfortunately, luck smiled on the Znicz players. The hosts quickly passed the ball and Majewski decided to shoot from outside the penalty area. The ball was blocked, but it fell at the feet of Nagamatsu, who did not waste the opportunity and sent it into our goal past the helpless Lenarcik…
Immediately after losing the goal, Arka attacked more decisively. The balls were repeatedly sent into the Znicz penalty area, but neither of the two Gdynia attackers scored, so we couldn’t wait for the shot. However, Znicz did not only look at what the Gdynia players would come up with and they themselves tried to surprise Arka for the second time. They were close to achieving this goal in the 64th minute after Pomorski’s shot, but it only resulted in a corner kick.
Unfortunately, in the 68th minute, the Majewski-Nagamatsu pair took a toll on us again. A short exchange of passes between these players ended with a precise shot on the ground from 15 meters by the Japanese, and Lenarcik took the ball out of the net for the second time. An unpleasant surprise is an understatement of the situation in which Arka Gdynia found itself during this match.
There were inaccuracies in Arka’s attacks, and this was also the case in the 74th minute, when Kobacki reached Gaprindashvili’s next cross, but his header attempt turned out to be very inaccurate. Olaf later tried to send the ball into the penalty area himself, but he lacked precision in this element as Misztal reached the ball first. Just for the sake of chronicler’s order, we will note Czubak’s attempted header after the Georgian’s play, because the ball was hit lightly and flew far from the goal. The shot from 20 meters by Hafez, who replaced Sidibe, was not much better, as Misztal had no right to have any major problems catching the ball.
Arka tried to create something under the hosts’ goal without any major results. As if that were not enough misfortune, Martin Dobrotka received his fourth yellow card of the season, which means, similarly to Tornike, the Slovak’s forced break in the next match. In the 89th minute, after another throw-in into the penalty area, the goalkeeper from Pruszków had trouble catching the ball, but Turski was unable to take advantage of it. A moment later, the same player made an unsuccessful charge in the Znicz penalty area, because when he fell to the pitch, he unsuccessfully signaled to the referee that he had been fouled.
Turski was close to scoring a goal and made contact when the ball sent by Przemek Stolec reached his head. Hubert shot right at the post, but Miształ managed to successfully intervene. It was similar less than a minute later, when Kobacki shot from an acute angle.
This was Arka’s last attempt to score at least one goal in Pruszków, because after a while, referee Mycio’s whistle announced Arka’s first defeat this year. It is difficult to say immediately what contributed to this defeat, but it was certainly the accumulation of Arka’s personnel problems and the short rest period after the previous match, because only three days earlier the Gdynia team had played their league match, while the Pruszków team had two more days of rest. As a result, Znicz performed slightly better in this match, because it was simply effective, while coach Łobodziński’s players lacked precision either in finishing or when trying to cross the ball into the penalty area. Moreover, coach Misiura could once again impress with his team’s good preparation for the clash with Arka and was rewarded with three valuable points.
Arka’s defeat does not result in any major consequences now, because the advantage over the play-off zone will remain significant, although it is clear that it will decrease somewhat. However, this is a warning signal that you still need to maintain a high level of fitness and you cannot afford a moment of downtime, because your rivals will ruthlessly take advantage of it. The goal is still very close, but you still have to fight for it with all your strength to finally achieve it, because in the first league no one will give you anything for free.
Arkadiusz Skubek
Wojciech Łobodziński:
First of all, I would like to congratulate Znicz on his victory. I think that in the context of the fight for relegation, these are very important points for them. I could talk about our shortcomings, problems, two days less for regeneration, but it doesn’t really matter at the moment, because we simply lost, and I don’t like to look for any trivial explanations. Until we lost the goal, nothing happened and nothing indicated that we might lose here. Individuals sometimes decide whether a team wins or loses. As for my team, we were not as strong as in the last matches, but this was also due to the hosts, who eliminated our advantages. Today we played differently than usual, because the personnel situation forced us to do so.
It’s a pity that our fans didn’t come here, I don’t know why, because they could be heard somewhere behind the stadium. I don’t know what happened. I can only appeal to our fans, because so much has happened this season, so many bad and good events, but we are really very close to the top league and I wouldn’t want this one match to influence our assessment.
We expected such a match. The Snitch defends well in a compact manner. We wanted to try crosses from the half-space. We have players, including: Karol played well in the air and after such a play we had a situation. That’s why we played the so-called “inverted legs”, i.e. Tornike and Kacper, to take advantage of it.
The pitch here is what it is, we have no influence on it. Although I don’t think it was that bad. This is not an explanation. We were nervous in the first half.
When it comes to the team’s mentality, it has already been through a lot this season, fan boycotts, ownership changes, health problems, cards, expansion of the squad… If one defeat were to devastate us, it would be unpleasant. I see in the locker room the desire to regenerate and take a revenge, because the next round is on Sunday. We still have the advantage, so everything is still in our hands and I told the players that too.
tr
Znicz Pruszków – Arka Gdynia
Goals
2
0
Shots
8
17
Accurate
2
8
Corner kicks
2
7
Foul
21
8
Burnt
0
1
Ball possession
36%
64%
Yellow cards
2
3
Red cards
0
0
source of match statistics: State score
