Before the break, the rivals could envy each other, because some had what the other lacked. Chase could play football, but she couldn’t get a good, juicy shot. Silesia didn’t know how to play football, but it could make a good, juicy shot. This is the best summary of what happened in Szczecin at Twardowskiego Street in the first half.
The porters definitely dominated and it did not make much difference to them whether the guests from Wrocław tried to take the ball from them near Dante Stipica’s penalty area, or whether they were defending themselves in their own half. The locals stuck to the ball for a long time (almost 60% of the game time), and when they lost it, they immediately attacked the visitors and took steals on their parts of the pitch several times. They just lacked efficiency.
And it was Kacper Kozłowski who kicked too lightly, and Matuš Putnocky managed to deflect his shot with his fingers and, on top of that, he blocked Luka Zahovič’s rebound close-up, and it was Rafał Kurzawa who simply kicked the wrong ball, and Jean Carlos Silva first hit the opponent and the ball almost passed the post, and this Sebastian Kowalczyk failed to take in the sixteenth. Still something and therefore Granatowo-Bordowi – despite the enormous advantage – went to the break without a goal scored.
On the other hand, Silesia presented itself dramatically, ineptly trying to build actions from its own penalty area, but usually lost the ball very quickly. But when the team from Wrocław finally managed to break through to the Stipica goal, Petra Schwarz was immediately centimeters away from the goal. There was a commotion on the 16th line, the Czech ball from this swirling, and this blew like a cannon on the crossbar. The goalkeeper of Pogoń didn’t even flinch. It wouldn’t be the visitors’ well-deserved lead, but who said football was fair?
The Portowców players spent a lot more time in the dressing room, the guests had to wait a few minutes for them and – what was worse for them – apparently the coach Kosta Runjaic’s talk helped. Pomegranate-Bordowi were still attacking, but they added something new – attempts of perpendicular passes. Zahovič squandered the first one from Kowalczyk, although the second one – from Kurzawa – was already used and he scored the fourth goal this season with a nice strike with his left foot.
But the locals did not enjoy the lead for a long time, Silesia showed what an instant response means. In less than a minute, Rafał Makowski used Dino Štiglec’s cross, who was awkwardly tried by Konstantinos Triantafyllopoulos. Jacek Magiera’s team has so far carried out two dangerous actions and once broke the bar and once enjoyed the goal. I must admit – high efficiency.
The lost goal did not discourage Pogoń, which continued to storm the penalty area of Wrocław residents and again achieved her goal. Long live our reserve! – it is proper to hum the fans, because it was the players introduced by Runjaic from the bench that achieved the goal. Kamil Grosicki was making a cross, and Michał Kucharczyk was hitting his head closely. Putnocky collapsed, although the reserve Porters should not be underestimated.
This time the hosts did not give up their lead and thanks to the victory they narrowed the distance to the runner-up – Lechia Gdańsk – to one point.
Pogoń Szczecin – Slask Wroclaw 2: 1 (0: 0)
Goals: Luka Zahović (53), Michał Kucharczyk (75) – Rafał Makowski (54)
Yellow cards: Makowski, Exposito (Silesia)
Pogon Szczecin: Dante Stipica – Luis Carlos Mata, Konstantinos Triantafyllopoulos, Benedikt Zech, Jakub Bartkowski – Damian Dąbrowski, Jean Carlos (62. Kamil Grosicki), Kacper Kozłowski (70. Mateusz Łęgowski), Sebastian Kowalczyk (83. Piotr Parzyszek), Rafał Kurzawa (83 Kamil Drygas), Luka Zahović (71. Michał Kucharczyk).
Slask Wroclaw: Matus Putnocky – Łukasz Bejger, Wojciech Golla, Diogo Verdasca – Patryk Janasik (88th Marcel Zylla), Rafał Makowski (62nd Robert Pich), Krzysztof Mączyński, Dino Stiglec (88th Victor Garcia), Waldemar Sobota (62nd Adrian Łyszczarz) , Petr Schwarz (83. Cayetano Quintana) – Erik Exposito.
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