Crvena zvezda return to winning ways with a hard-fought victory against Mačva in Šabac. Luka Adžić and El Fardou Ben Nabouhane scored in second half to ensure our club do better than earlier in the week when Mačva eliminated us from the Serbian Cup.
Ground: Gradski stadion, Šabac
Attendance: 10.000
Referee: Petar Piper
Goalscorers: Adžić 65', Ben Nabouhane 75'.
Teams:
Mačva: Puletić, Pejović, Tošić, Ivić, Jovanović, Obrovac, Matić, Gavrić, Ristivojević, Adamović, Jeremić.
Substitutes: Filipović, Jevtić, Milinković, Marković, Lazarević, Božić, Vladisavljević.
Crvena zvezda: Borjan, Gobeljić, Le Tallec, Babić, Rodić, Jovičić, Krstičić, Milijaš, Adžić, Ben, Pešić.
Substitutes: Supić, Frimpong, Hajdin, L. Ilić, Srnić, Radonjić, Joveljić.
Home side was unchanged from their midweek game and they approached the game in similar fashion: a highly physical and often too rough football. This resulted in numerous fouls, interruptions in play, but also injuries to Crvena zvezda players.
Despite all this, the red-and-whites showed great determination and did enough to secure the points along with another clean sheet.
Vladan Milojević clearly urged his players to employ a more direct approach as they had more attempts and wasted no time to enter Mačva's box and shoot. Nenad Milijaš rolled back the years as he was full of running and energy across the pitch. It was a joy to see him marshal his team mates to a vital win.
First half saw Zvezda create a few half chances, but Mačva's goalkeeper Puletić wasn't seriously tested. However, he should have been facing a penalty kick around the hour mark as one of his team mates clearly handballed in his own area, but somehow it wasn't enough for Mr Piper to award the spot kick.
Mačva's only first-half opportunity arrived just before the break as former Red Star winger Nenad Gavrić rounded Milan Borjan and looked certain to score, but Damien Le Tallec did great to put his body in the way of the shot and protect his net.
Second half offered more of the same, with Mačva players doing their best to break up play by committing fouls and wasting time at every given chance. Thankfully, this time they were punished for their rather unsporting conduct throughout.
Aleksandar Pešić was fouled just outside the area on 65 minutes and it looked like a great chance to open the scoring with a free kick. Luka Adžić duly placed the ball and found the far corner with Puletić unable to get to it. Finally a breakthrough. It was such an important goal for the team and it showed as the red-and-whites continued to dominate with even more confidence and determination.
Superliga leaders made it count ten minutes later when El Fardou Ben Nabouhane finished expertly after a smart headed pass from Pešić. Some wild celebrations followed and Mačva never looked like getting back into the game.
Slavoljub Srnić, Nemanja Radonjić and Luka Ilić all came on in the second half as Zvezda cruised to a significant win ahead of the upcoming international break.
Well played, red-and-whites!