Crvena zvezda beat Voždovac 2-0 to consolidate at the top of the table and at least somewhat banish the Bayern blues.
Ground: Rajko Mitić Stadium
Attendance: 5,328
Referee: Jovan Šegrt
Goalscorers: Marin 60’, Ben 90+3’
Crvena zvezda: Borjan, Gobeljić, Pankov, Degenek, Rodić, Petrović, Ben, Ivanić (78’ Jovančić), Marin (90+2’ Simić), Garcia (86’ Vukanović), Tomané.
Substitutes: Popović, Gajić, Babić, Simić, Nikolić, Jovančić, Vukanović.
Voždovac: Ilić, Lasickas, Mikić, Cvetković, Daničić, Nikolić, Zličić (79’ Cvetićanin), Nišić, Živojinović, Mašović (59’ Krasić), Stoisavljević (65’ Dević).
Substitutes: Trkulja, Cvetićanin, Dević, Živković, Purtić, Krasić, Đorđijevski.
It was initially a nervy match at Marakana as Voždovac proved determined to spoil Zvezda’s 100-percent record in the league with dangerous counter attacks. Vladan Milojević’s men responded with high pressing, which resulted in a few balls won deep in Voždovac territory. This gave opportunities to Tomané and his fellow forwards, but Zvezda once again seemed bereft of that final pass that would unlock defences.
The struggle lasted until the hour mark when Garcia and Tomané combined well to play Marko Marin in. The former Germany international applied a cool finish to give his team the lead. Mirko Ivanić hit the bar after a fine Marin pass and was unlucky not to mark his return to form with a goal to his name.
At the other end Marko Gobeljić had to make a good tackle to deny veteran striker Marko Dević an equalizer with around 15 minutes left.
Aleksa Vukanović nearly scored seconds after coming on, but Voždovac’s goalkeeper Ilić showed his impressive shot-stopping ability again. Zvezda had to wait until the dying seconds of injury time to confirm the win as Ben found the net with the last kick of the game. That was Ben’s eighth goal of the season.
At the end we celebrated a 2-0 win, but the celebrations won’t last long as we travel to Lučani to face Mladost on Wednesday.