Captain Marko Marin scored with the last kick of the game to hand Zvezda a deserved victory over Napredak in Kruševac.
Ground: Mladost
Attendance: 5,000
Referee: Bojan Nikolić.
Goalscorers: Marin 90+7’
Napredak: Milošević, Aksentijević, Pajović, Milovanović, Spremo, Eskić, Bjeloš, Ožegović, Ivanović, Zec, Kojić.
Substitutes: Andrijanić, Obradović, Markoski, Vukadinović, Ilić, Baha, Čuković.
Crvena zvezda: Popović, Gajić, Degenek, Milunović, Rodić, Petrović, Vulić, Ben, Marin, García, Boakye.
Substitutes: Vasiljević, Pankov, Babić, Jovančić, Simić, Vukanović, Pavkov.
After that great midweek win over Olympiacos we returned to Superliga action and boss Vladan Milojević picked a rather strong side, with Champions League goalscorers Miloš Vulić, Nemanja Milunović and Richmond Boakye all starting in Kruševac. Meanwhile, goalkeeper Zoran Popović was given the nod to start in place of Milan Borjan.
We’ve had a bright start and even had the ball in the back of Napredak’s net after a Miloš Degenek header, but it was somehow chalked off for alleged offside position. Our team controlled the ball well and passed it around, but were unable to get that important first goal of the match.
Nemanja Milunović thought he’d scored with a header only to see goalkeeper Milošević push it away with a terrific reflex save. Mateo tried his luck from distance, while captain Marko Marin came very close in the injury time with a free kick. But it remained 0-0 as the team headed out for the break.
The match looked like one of those where the ball simply wouldn’t get in the goal, no matter what you tried. Zvezda fans surely felt that way when Ben blazed his penalty over with 15 minutes remaining.
But up popped Captain Marvelous Marko Marin who dispatched a free kick deep into injury time to give Zvezda the points to the delight of travelling fans. That was pure class from Marin!