Crvena zvezda maintained a hundred percent record in the Superliga, but Proleter made it very difficult for our team, who needed a moment of brilliance from Ben to reach a 1-0 victory.
Ground: Karađorđe
Referee: Dragan Čolović.
Goalscorer: Ben 77’
Proleter: Petrić, Leandro, Kovačević, Pejić, Janković (74’ Mitrović), Mirosavljev, Živojinović (74’ Kojić), Andrejević, Jovanović (19’ Ilić), Bacanović (63’ Galić), Knežević (63’ Milenković).
Substitutes: Elesin, Mitrović, Vesić, Joković, Ilić, Babić, Milošević, Milenković, Kojić, Papović, Galić.
Crvena zvezda: Borjan, Gajić, Pankov, Degenek, Rodić (46’ Gobeljić), Petrović, Nikolić, Ivanić (46’ Kanga), Spiridonović (63’ Gavrić), Katai (46’ Tomané), Ben (78’ Boakye).
Substitutes: Popović, Gobeljić, Milunović, Eraković, Vulić, Kanga, Gavrić, Tomané, Boakye, Krstović.
This Friday night fixture was played with the upcoming trip to Tirana in mind. It was obvious that the players’s focus was somewhat lacking and Dejan Stanković addressed this with some half time substitutions. This was required as the team couldn’t apply enough pressure on Proleter’s defence. Attempts from Ivanić, Gajić and Ben weren’t good enough to trouble Petrić in the Slana Bara team’s goal.
Kanga and Spiridonović combined well after the break and indicated that Zvezda will be more dangerous going forward in the second half. Marko Gobeljić nearly broke the deadlock with a header on 54 minutes, but it wasn’t to be.
Srđan Spiridonović came close on the hour mark after being played in by Veljko Nikolić, but the speedy winger shot straight at the ‘keeper after doing most of the work brilliantly.
Zvezda had a strong penalty shout when Proleter’s Kovačević pulled Radovan Pankov’s shirt just as the defender was looking to get to the end of a cross. It was a clear goalscoring chance, but the ref remained silent to the dismay of Zvezda’s technical area.
Just as Zvezda fans were starting to look at the time nervously, up popped in-form El Fardou Ben to give us that much-needed goal some 13 minutes from time. He placed the ball for a free kick and dispatched it with power and great precision beyond the wall and the diving goalkeeper to make it 1-0.
Our team looked like adding to the opener with Kanga going close with a couple of long range efforts, but it remained 1-0 the champions.