The first games of the Ekstraklasa "revenge round" took place this week and it turned out to be a mixture of boredom, classy football and last minute winners.
Robert Lewandowski gave Lech Poznan a last gasp winner against a stubborn GKS Bełchatów, 40,000 saw Gornik Zabrze beat Ruch Chorzów in the Slask derby, Legia Warszawa somehow managed to hold out for a nil all draw at city rivals Polonia and defending champions Wisla Krakow were held to a surprise draw by Polonia Bytom.
In a (probably pointless) attempt to hold your attention 'til the end of this "piece", we'll deal with the more mundane fixtures first, cranking up the excitement as we go!
Odra Wodzisław - ŁKS Łódź 0:1
ŁKS made major changes for this game and the gamble paid off. Geworgian gave the Lodzians the lead on the stroke of half time but the major turning point was the sending off of Odra's 'keeper Stachowiak on 20 minutes for bringing down Paweł Drumlak outside the area. The game was an entertaining one - both sides deciding that the best form of defence is attack but ultimately Odra's 10 men could not salvage anything from the game.
Jagiellonia Białystok - Arka Gdynia 3:0
Jaga could have run out winners by a much bigger margin against a very poor Arka side. To all intents and purposes the game was over at halftime, Jaga going in two up thanks to a brace from the rejuvinated Tomasz Frankowski. Zawistowski added the third in the second half and the only downside for the hosts was Bruno's profligacy in front of goal. Had it not been for the Brazilian's woeful finishing the victory would have been even more emphatic. Arka should hang their heads in shame after such an abysmal performance.
Lechia Gdańsk - Śląsk Wrocław 1:1
A justified draw in an end to end game which was an excellent advert for Polish football. Both sides had only attack on their minds and it is amazing that the fixture only saw two goals. In both cases they were scored on the counter, Śląsk going ahead after breaking down a Lechia attack and the home side equalising through a brilliant 25 metre effort from Maciej Kowalczyk whilst the Śląsk team were trying in vain to get back from a foray into the Lechia half. Football as it should be played!
Cracovia Kraków - Piast Gliwice 1:0
Cracovia's mid-season squad strengthening seems to have paid dividends going on the evidence of this game. The goal which gave them victory was scored by Bartosz Ślusarski, back in Poland from his tour of English Championship and Division One clubs and was set up by Paweł Sasin, signed recently from Korona Kielce. The margin of victory should have been greater but Cracovia look to be a solid unit which, whilst not setting the standards of beautiful football, look to have a fighting chance of surviving this season.
Ruch Chorzów - Górnik Zabrze 0:1
Gornik won the bragging rights over neighbours Ruch in the Slask derby. 40,000 saw the game which was played at the Stadion Slaski and, as is now becoming customary for games in Poland, wasn't without it's share of off-field "incidents" - a nice bit of overtime was had by the local constabulary. Henryk Kasperczak seems to have made the right changes during the break and this result will give some hope of Ekstraklasa survival. Ruch's performance proved just how much they rely on Marcin Zajac - without him they were toothless in attack and never really threatened the Zabrzans goal.
Polonia Warszawa - Legia Warszawa 0:0
Although Polonia were the better side it has to be said that this was a dreary game. The only one on the pitch to stand out from the crowd was Wojciech Szala and that was purely due to his red card, recieved 8 minutes from the end.
Polonia Bytom - Wisła Kraków 1:1
Before the current round Wisła manager Maciej Skorża predicted that his club would drop points against the bottom sides. Well, he was correct and he did not have to wait long to be proved so. Polonia had the temerity to go ahead on 70 minutes but Wisła pegged them back only three minutes later. If this performance sets the standard for the rest of the season then Wisła can forget about successfully defending their title.
GKS Bełchatów - Lech Poznań 2:3
Yet again Lech showed that they have the determination and spirit to play to the very end, coming out on top in this encounter thanks to a 90th minute winner scored by Robert Lewandowski. Kolejorz had lead 2 - 0 but the home side, also not devoid of fighting spirit, managed to get themselves back on level terms. One can only wonder whether GKS would have come out of this game with all three points had their Polish international and on-field inspiration Łukasz Garguła been fit for this fixture.
No comments:
Post a Comment