After a 1-3 home defeat to Widzew a week earlier, the Stalowcy occupied the bottom half (13th place with 15 points) of the league table. Mieczysław Kruk ‘s charges’ trip to the capital of Wielkopolska (Lech had three points more than Stal) did not inspire optimism among Mielec fans. It started with the hosts’ attacks, who, in the presence of more than 35,000 spectators, created several great opportunities to score in the first quarter of the game, but Napierała, Chojnacki and Grześkowiak were unable to enter the scoring list. In the 23rd minute, however, Kolejorz got what they wanted. First, our team was saved by stopper Marian Kosinski, who knocked the ball out of the goal line for a corner. After the restart from a corner kick, Ryszard Szpakowski’s beautiful header took Janusz Stawarz by surprise. Less than 120 seconds in, the visiting team narrowly missed an equaliser. Szarmach struck at the local goal, the ball bounced off the Lech players’ wall. Bedryj got to it, shot hard, but Mowlik deflected the ball straight to Lata’s feet. He in turn passed it to Szarmach, but his not-so-strong shot was knocked off the goal line by Barczak.
After the half, the roles were reversed. This time the gusts of wind favoured the FKS team. In the 50th minute it could have been a draw. A hard-hit ball from a free kick (Ciołek’s famous pass, known in Polish league stadiums), by Szarmach, who plays a major role in the team, bounced off the crossbar and went into the field. The side referee pointed the flag to the middle of the pitch, but the chief referee did not stop the game. Four minutes later there was no longer any doubt. A pass from the right by Zbyszek Hnatia was converted into a suicide goal by the unfortunate intervening Hieronim Barczak. The locals did not even look back when, not much later, another accurate pass by Hnatia from the same spot found its way to the addressee. Such an opportunity Devilandrzej Szarmach was not used to wasting such an opportunity. The thrilling duel got a boost in the 63rd minute. This time it was the locals who enjoyed the equaliser after a cross from a corner kick and an accurate head shot by Grześkowiak. Until the end of the match, Stal did not give up on tipping the scales of victory in their favour. They could have scored two more goals, but after a powerful strike by Ciołek and Lata’s header hit the post, they were unable to bring home a set of points from Poznan on that day.
30.03.1980 – Poznań, Warta Stadium, 22 July (11:00), 19th round 1st League, KKS Lech Poznań – FKS PZL-Stal Mielec 2-2 (1-0)
Referee: Libich Andrzej Libich (Warsaw) Spectators: 35.000
Lech: Piotr Mowlik – Roman Mądrochowski, Józef Szewczyk, Andrzej Grześkowiak, Hieronim Barczak, Krzysztof Pawlak, Teodor Napierała (63 Remigiusz Marchlewicz), Leszek Piekarczyk (46 Janusz Woliński), Romuald Chojnacki, Marek Skurczyński, Ryszard Szpakowski Coach: Wojciech Łazarek
Stal: Janusz Stawarz – Kazimierz Polak, Marian Kosiński, Jan Bedryj, Antoni Mrowiec, Krzysztof Frankowski (46 Kazimierz Buda, ż), Włodzimierz Ciołek, Zbigniew Hnatio, Grzegorz Lato, Andrzej Szarmach, Janusz Duchnowski (ż) Coach: Mieczysław Kruk
Goals: Ryszard Szpakowski 23, Grześkowiak 63 – Hieronim Barczak 54-sam., Andrzej Szarmach 57 min.
Stal’s league balances with Poznan Lech amount to 55 premier league matches (15 Stali wins, 14 draws, 26 defeats, goals: 52-72). In the 2nd league, they competed 4 times (2 wins for Stali, 2 defeats, in goals: 5-4 for FKS). The Polish Cup was contested twice (1 victory for Stali, 1 defeat, goals 3-4).
Leszek Śledziona
Photo: Leszek Śledziona’s archives
