August 20, 21 & 22, 2021
Friday August 20, 2021
NK Hrvatski Dragovoljac 0-1 HNK Hajduk Split ( att : 990 )
Simic ( 97 )
Saturday August 21, 2021
HNK Gorica 1-0 NK Slaven Belupo ( att : tbc, 400 approx )
Dvornekovic ( 66 )
HNK Dinamo Zagreb 1-0 NK Lokomotiva Zagreb ( att : 1,190 )
Orsic ( 77 )
Sunday August 22, 2021
NK Istra 1961 2-0 NSK Osijek ( att : 621 )
Bande ( 84 ), Miskovic ( 94 )
HNK Rijeka 2-1 HNK Sibenik ( att : 2,281 )
Drmic ( 64 ), Busnja ( 78 ); Delic ( 47 )
Hrvatski Dragovoljac came incredibly close to causing a huge upset to win their first point of the season but Hajduk avoided embarrassment with a late, late winner in Zagreb. To the delight of their sizeable travelling support, Simic escaped the attentions of Cosic to tap in at the back post after a flicked on header from a corner. Prior to that Dragovoljac had defended much better than earlier this season, but Hajduk missed a bag full of chances. Lovrencsics struck the bar in the 95th minute but the winning goal came from the subsequent corner. As a result Hajduk now top the table.
Gorica dominated against Slaven Belupo and should have had the game won by half-time. The crossbar denied Babec and Lovric and Slaven keeper Covic made a fine one-handed save to thwart Babec.
Slaven improved in the second half, and Brkovic saw a 40 yard chip clawed away by the desperately back-peddling Gorica keeper, and the same player struck a post. However, substitute Dvornrkovic grabbed the winner for Gorica a minute after coming on, getting to a chipped free-kick over the defensive line to slam into the roof of the net from close range.
Dinamo inflicted a first defeat of the season on Lokomotiva but the result was harsh on the visitors. Dinamo started with several key players on the bench, presumably to save them for this week’s Champions League match, but the tactic failed to work in the first half as Lokomotiva dominated.
Dinamo were forced to make two changes at half time, and gradually throughout the second half in order to get a grip on the game. The winning goal came 13 minutes from time, Cop chested down for Orsic to sweep home from 12 yards.
Lokomotiva should have equalised in added on time, but with just the keeper to beat from 8 yards, Hoxha blasted his shot straight at the Dinamo keeper who was able to make a block as he spread himself.
The major shock of the weekend came at Istra, who recorded only their second win of the season in beating previously unbeaten Osijek 2-0. An even game in which Istra were bravely battling for an unexpected point took a dramatic turn 6 minutes from the end when Mauritanian midfielder Mahmood played in Bande, who confidently finished to give Istra the lead. Stunned by the reversal, Osijek bombarded the Istra goal in search of the equaliser, but a break in injury time saw Beljo lay a ball across the face of the goal for Miskovic to slide in and score ahead of Lisica, who would have scored anyway.
Rijeka recorded an expected victory over Sibenik, but there were a few hiccups on the way, Indeed, the visitors looked the sharper side in the first half and it wouldn’t have been a surprise had they led at the break. Although it remained scoreless at half-time, the visitors took the lead two minutes after the break from a powerful header from Delic from a corner,
Sibenik looked good for all three points, but the game turned with a slightly fortuitous penalty for handball to Rijeka with 25 minutes to play. Drmic, on loan from Norwich City made no mistake from the spot,
Rijeka went on to clinch victory thanks to Busnja’s left footed shot from 15 yards, but Sibenik keeper might have done better to have prevented the goal……………..
European Update
After the huge disappointment of not having the lucrative and much missed opportunity to play Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League play-offs, Dinamo Zagreb were shot by the Sheriff ( of Tiraspol ) and slumped to a humiliating 0-3 defeat against the under-rated Moldovan champions, who could easily have won by more. Dinamo now face a huge uphill battle to overturn the deficit in the Maksimir if they are to reach the group stages.
In comparison, in the Europa Conference, Rijeka put in a highly commendable performance in Greece against PAOK Salonika, the runners-up in the 2020/21 Greek Championship and winners in 2019/20. Only an unfortunate deflected own goal in the 94th minute denied them a famous victory.
Lepnijica’s low 20 yard drive gave Rijeka a deserved lead just after the half hour and despite the inevitable dominance of PAOK thereafter, safe handling from keeper Prskalo and resolute defending looking like keeping the home side at bay.
No comments:
Post a Comment