Partizan 1 - 2 Poplava (380206649)

The crowd of 12000 turning up at Pecanska Arena today were greeted with some nasty showers of rain. Antonio Mantelini was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Fernando Larrañaga and Nunzio Bragadini. Partizan decided to use a 4-4-2 set up. Starters: Miranović - Papec, Dobrić, Mustahinić, Čaušević - Grčić, Nikačević, Gačić, Simendić - Lekić, Štaka.

Poplava started off with a 4-4-2 lineup. Lineup: Hadžiselimović - Radaković, Skorup, Suljaković, Meškić - Brčinović, Sofrenić, Vujasinović, Ademović - Prnjavorac, Samukić.

After 11 minutes, E. Lekić came in from the right, feinted, then sped past the off-balance defender to make the score 1 - 0, giving Partizan the lead. A great save by keeper N. Hadžiselimović after 23 minutes kept the visitors in the game after I. Papec struck from the left with a real cannonball. Some brilliant football from the visitors' right wing resulted in a levelling of the score as Poplava's S. Ademović put the ball in the onion bag after 24 minutes to make it 1 - 1. The rain made it hard for players like I. Papec to show their technical control of the ball on this soggy day. It was 1 - 1 at the break. Partizan claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 59 percent.

It was a bad day for the usually speedy S. Ademović. The mud seemed to slow him down. The guests almost went up by a goal after 67 minutes when J. Samukić came through and shot from the right. The ball bounced harmlessly off the post, though. The muddy pitch made the game a gritty affair, which seemed to suit E. Sofrenić just fine. After a fine move down the middle M. Gačić nearly gave the home side a goal after 78 minutes. However the finishing shot went just wide. With 81 minutes played, Poplava's well-worked indirect free kick caused havoc in the penalty area, and when the ball eventually fell to S. Ademović he gleefully slotted the ball home to make it 1 - 2. 86 minutes into the game, M. Gačić came close to levelling the score with a dangerous shot from the centre of the area that went just over the bar. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Partizan, with 59 percent of the ball.

Partizan's best player was S. Štaka. R. Miranović on the other hand, had a terrible day. Most important Poplava player was J. Samukić. However, N. Hadžiselimović made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 1 - 2.