The start of the second, second league season after relegation from the first league in 1983 was not very successful for Stala. After a 1-1 draw with Igloopol in Dębica in the 5th round, the Mielecs occupied 6th place with 6 points and a one-point loss to the leader – Hutnik Kraków. Saturday’s meeting with a team from distant Białystok did not convince our team’s fans that this team will easily win the coveted promotion to the elite of Polish football. There were too many individual dribbles in this duel. Accurate shots at the visitors’ goal could be counted on the fingers of one hand, as they managed only four times. The visitors limited themselves to hard play, which resulted in three yellow cards.
In the first part of the game, they initially tried to play an even game, but then concentrated solely on defensive efforts, launching only two counter-attacks themselves, ending with strikes from Gierejkiewicz. Stal responded only with a Kołosowski strike. After the change of sides, the Stal players kept attacking, but attempts by Banasik (56 min.) and Gajec (80 min.), introduced in this part of the game, did not have the desired effect. We had to wait until the 83rd minute, when midfielder Mariusz Barnak decided to fire a shot from over 25 metres. Precisely and strongly struck, the ball went right into the window of Sowinski’s goal. Our players enjoyed a second goal for a while at the very end, but after the chief referee consulted his linesman, the former changed his earlier decision. Stal ended the season in excellent spirits as they celebrated their third ever promotion to the Premier League after a 2-0 away win against Avia in Świdnik in June 1985.
15.09.1984 – Mielec, 6th round 2nd League, Stal Mielec – Jagiellonia Białystok 1-0 (0-0)
Referee: Podgórski (Wrocław) Spectators: 6,000
Stal: Pazdan – Skiba, Duchnowski, Łukasik, Tyburski, Barnak, Gruszecki (62 Wnuk), Urbanek, Banasik, Lizończyk (69 Gajec), Kołosowski Coach: W.Gąsior
Jagiellonia: Sowiński – Bartnowski, Lisowski, A.Kulesza, Cylwik (ż), Szugzda, Gierejkiewicz, Romaniuk (ż), Ambrożej (ż; 71 Jakiel), Tiszkow, Jermułajew (81 Krystek) Coach: R.Karalus
Goal: Barnak 83 min.
