Montenegro First League - Round 9 Round-Up

October 17, 2020

FK Buducnost Podgorica  1-0 FK Zeta Golubovci ( abandoned after 80 minutes )

FK Podgorica 2-0 FK Rudar Pljevlja

OFK Petrovac 1-1 FK Decic Tuzi

FK Iskra Danilovgrad 2-1 FK Jezero

OFK Titograd 0-0 FK Sutjeska

All matches played behind closed doors

The major talking point about this weekend’s matches in the Montenegro First League was the sensational abandonment of the Podgorica derby between Champions FK Buducnost and long standing rivals FK Zeta, after the visitors walked off the pitch after having received 4 red cards plus another to a non-playing substitute.

The first incident occurred just before half-time when Kalezic made a rash challenge forcing Milic to leap up to avoid getting badly hurt. An obvious yellow card, and being his second of the match he had to go. 

The second red card was not so clear cut, and although Simovic did block Ivanovic’s run, the Buducnost midfielder was never going to get reach the through ball which was gathered by the Zeta keeper. Although it was a foul and a penalty, it was not a denial of a clear goal scoring opportunity so the sanction at worst should have been a yellow card rather than a straight red card. Captain and top scorer Drasko Bozovic sent the keeper the wrong way from the spot to give Buducnost the lead.

Zeta then seemed to lose their heads, as two minutes later Krstovic elbowed Vucic and the Buducnost player went down holding his face. It was unclear from the TV pictures exactly where contact was made, but the offence was clearly intentional and nasty, and Zeta could have no complaints about this red card. However, in the inevitably melee following this incident, two more red cards appeared to have been issued to Zeta, to Mijat Lambulic, and Matija Lambulic from the bench. Reduced to 7 men, Zeta walked off the pitch.

Subsequently the Montenegrin FA have declared the match result to be 3-0 in favour of Buducnost. As a result they move to joint top with a game in hand, despite a surprisingly poor start to the season where they lost their first two away matches of the season ( Decic 0-2, FK Podgorica 0-4 ).

Zeta have also had a disappointing start to their campaign. After finishing 4^th last season they have been inconsistent, being able to win at Sutjeska and drawing with high flying Podgorica but losing to lowly Titograd. They might continue struggle with a few suspensions in the pipeline.......

FK Podgorica have been the surprise of the season to-date and they moved to the top of the league after their 2-0 home win over Rudar thanks to a goal in each half by Saleta Kordic, the league’s top scorer so far with 8 goals, and whose form earned a first cap earlier this month for the 27 year old striker. Podgorica have taken 13 points from 15 at home, and their only defeat to-date was at Sutjeska. Rudar have now lost all 5 of their away matches and sit in one of the relegation spots, although in Vuk Strikovic they have the league's second highest scorer with 6 goals. They wasted a glorious chance when the scores were level, but ultimately were well beaten.

OFK Petrovac remain without a win after their draw at home to newly promoted Decic, another surprise side so far. Petrovac started strongly, hitting the bar and wasting a great chance by shooting from close range straight at the keeper when placement either side would have given him no chance, but eventually they took the lead in the 33^rd minute when Markovic was the quickest to react to a clearance off the line to score from 2 yards. However, Decic were the better side in the second half and Vulaj fired home from just inside the penalty area in the 48^th minutes for his 6^th goal of the season. The best chances then fell to Decic, and they had the opportunity to win the match from the penalty spot, but Vulaj’s weak penalty was saved by Petrovac keeper Popovic. Decic remain unbeaten and have the scalps of Buducnost, Zeta, Rudar and Titograd under their belts.

FK Iskra finished third last season, just 2 points behind Sutjeska when the season was terminated. However, even after this win over newly promoted FK Jezero they languish in 5^th place, 6 points off the lead, and it is their away form that is letting them down as they remain unbeaten at home. Iskra fell behind in the 65^th minute, conceding a needlessly soft penalty for a tug on the shoulder, which Mujeci converted. Jezero will probably feel that keeper Asanovic could have done better to prevent Iskra’s two goals in response with Vukovic’s free-kick and Milic’s flick on the turn where both saveable. Despite this set-back Jezero are probably satisfied with their mid-table position at this stage of the season although it is now two consecutive defeats. 

Following their draw with FK Sutjeska, OFK Titograd remain unbeaten at home, but 5 away losses leave them in a relegation play-off position. Both sides had good chances to score but the ball never fell kindly to the attacking side. The red card in the 95^th minute for Titograd’s Mamadou seemed harsh for what appeared to be a very innocuous challenge on Sutjeska’s keeper. Sutjeska have had a slow start to the season, drawing 3-3 at home to Petrovac, losing at Buducnost and losing at home to Zeta but are now unbeaten in four.

Montenegrin Sides in Europe

Predictably Buducnost departed the Champions League at the first hurdle, going down 1-3 to Bulgarian Champions Ludogorets. However, Buducnost pressed hard for an equaliser in the second half, and Ludogorets only settled the result in added on time.

Dropping down to the Europa League, Buducnost then caused a major surprise by beating Astana 1-0 in Kazakhstan before being eliminated 1-2 by FK Sarajevo in Bosnia, whose winning goal was scored by ex-England under 18 international Matthias Fanimo.

FK Sutjeska were also eliminated from the Europa League by Bosnian opposition, losing 0-1 at FK Borac Banja Luka. FK Zeta overcame Engordany 3-1 in Andorra before being well beaten in Luxembourg by Progress Niederkorn ( 3-0 ). Montenegro’s other representative in the Europa League were FK Iskra, who were also victorious in Andorra, albeit only after extra time and penalties following a 0-0 draw with Santa Coloma. They then bowed out of the competition with a 0-1 home defeat to Lokomotiv Plovdiv

Next Matches

October 25, 2020 – kick-off 20.00 local/19.00

FK Rudar Pljevlja vs FK Jezero

FK Buducnost Podgorica vs FK Decic Tuzi

OFK Petrovac vs FK Sutjeska  

FK Iskra Danilovgrad vs FK Zeta Golubovci

OFK Titograd vs  FK Podgorica

Table

Note : excludes the 3-0 win award to Buducnost over FK Zeta