SportFriday the 13th did not turn out to be unlucky for the players of Lublin Motor. In the 8th round of the current PKO BP Ekstraklasa season, the players of coach Mateusz Stolarski defeated Górnik Zabrze in front of their home crowd. For the yellow-white-blues, it was the first ever victory in the national elite at the Arena Lublin.
For the first time this season, the Lublin team’s starting line-up includes Sergi Samper, Christopher Simon and Krystian Palacz. The first two were acquired this summer, while “Pali” missed the start of the season due to injury. The biggest surprise in the context of the line-up for Friday’s match was the absence of Piotr Ceglarz. The captain of the Lublin team was out of the match squad for the first time since the play-off final for promotion to the first league in the 2022/23 season. At that time, he was suspended due to cards, this time he was ruled out by a knee injury.
Michał Król and Filip Wójcik had a nice jubilee before the first whistle. The former has already made over 100 appearances for the Lublin team, while the latter has 150. On this occasion, both received commemorative plaques from president Zbigniew Jakubas.
The yellow-white-blue team faced Górnik Zabrze in a league match for the first time in fourteen years. The visitors came to Lublin with the 2014 world champion, Lukas Podolski, in their ranks. The visiting team’s captain is Erik Janza, who scored a goal against Denmark during the recent Euro in Germany. These names did not inspire much respect in Motor, who dominated the beginning of the match. In the 4th minute, Simon decided to take a long-range shot, but after the Senegalese strike, all that could be heard in the Arena stands was a groan of disappointment. It was similar a few dozen seconds later, when Bartosz Wolski sent the ball over the crossbar from a free kick. In the next action, Samuel Mraz came very close to scoring. After a header by the home team striker, the ball bounced off the post. The pass was passed to him by the active Simon, who had made a conscious interception a moment earlier, and then a great cross.
Christopher Simon had a very good start to the match, but when the second quarter of the match was over, he could have assisted… on the opponents’ goal. After a blunder by the African midfielder in his own penalty area, Podolski had a chance to take the lead. However, the shot of the former Bayern Munich player was dealt with by the instinctive intervention of Ivan Brkić. As it turned out, it was the only shot on target in the first half. Unfortunately, with each passing minute the pace of the confrontation was getting weaker and the score was goalless at half-time.
The second half could not have started any better for coach Mateusz Stolarski’s team. Three minutes after the break, Simon opened the scoring with a beautiful, precise shot from distance. It was the 24-year-old’s debut goal in the top league. A moment later, after a clever pass from Mbaye to Jacques Ndiaye, Mraz could have increased the score, but the Slovak sniper hit the Zabrze goalpost for the second time that day.
Then, the white-blue-reds had the advantage in possession. However, their attacks were neutralized by the defense of the home team or good interventions by Brkic. The “Motorowcy” were mainly threatening with counterattacks. In the 78th minute, Filip Wójcik had a chance to threaten the rivals’ goal, but his shot from a distance was very inaccurate. Shortly afterwards, Michał Szromnik, standing between the posts of the visitors, made a great save after Ndiaye’s shot. Mathieu Scalet also had a chance to increase the lead, but he lacked a precise finish.
In the end, Górnik tried to equalize, but the three points remained at Arena Lublin. Motor won its first home match in the top division since 1992, inspiring over 12,000 fans in the stands. It was the second win of the current season for the newcomer to the top division. Earlier, coach Stolarski and company were happy to beat Lechia Gdańsk away in the second round.
Motor Lublin – Górnik Zabrze 1:0 (0:0)
Goal: Simon 49
Motor: Brkić – Wojcik, Rudol, Bartos, Palacz (66 Luberecki), Samper (73 Scalet), Wolski, Ndiaye, Simon (66 Caliskaner), M. Król, Mraz (83 Wełniak)
Miner: Szromnik – Janża, Josema, Szcześniak, Szala (85 Sanchez), Rasak, Hellebrand (79 Tobolik), Wojtuszek (65 Ambros), Ismaheel, Podolski (85 Buksa), Zahovic (65 Bakis)
Yellow cards: I will – Wojtuszek, Ambros
Judged by: Patryk Gryckiewicz (Torun)
