Just four days after Stali’s 0-1 home defeat (5 April 1981) to table leaders Widzew of Łódź, Mieczysław Kruk was dismissed from his position as head coach of Mielec. His place on the coaching bench was taken by one of the most distinguished players in the history of our club, who was still actively playing in the stopper position last season – trainer Marian Kosiński. The away duel in Lublin was a revenge, so to speak, for the 1-2 defeat suffered in Mielec in autumn last year against the league’s top team. The Stalowcy were in 12th place after 20 rounds (17 points), while the locals were in 8th position, with three points more. The visiting team adopted an offensive variant of the game from the very beginning, decisively dominating in midfield, where the trio of Hnatio, Ciołek and Buda ruled. The rival team’s offensive plan collapsed after just a quarter of an hour, when Walczak left the pitch due to injury. A reshuffle in Motor’s central line and defence saw the speedy Janikowski, repeatedly escape the care of his keepers. In the 20th minute, our team opened the score. Kazimierz Buda decided on a solo rally, with a clever strike surprising the Opolski goalkeeper. Just four minutes later, the second goal for the blue and white could have been scored, but after a dynamic run on the wing by Hnatia and his pass to Janikowski, the latter sent the ball past the post. In a quick reverse, Motor led to an equaliser. After an exemplary corner kick, Pop scored into the visitors’ net. One minute before going down to the locker room for the break, Janikowski again had a good opportunity, but this time he fumbled. The rival hit us several dozen seconds later, when, after the ball was played through by more of the hosts’ players, Komosa, who showed great prowess in his game, behaved smartly under Stawarz’s goal.
The second half saw a more determined thrust from our team, who were constantly attacking, while the locals very rarely penetrated our penalty area. First, in the 70th minute, Stal scored the equaliser. The action started still in our half, where Hnatio unexpectedly received the ball from the opponent. He rushed at high speed to Motor’s penalty area and laid it out for Buda, who scored his second goal of the match. One minute before the end, we hit the opponent. Wójtowicz had the ball close to his feet at the 30-yard line and, turning unexpectedly, decided to play the ball back to Cypka, who extended the pass to his own goalkeeper, who unnecessarily ran out of goal. Henryk Janikowski sprinted to the ball, which missed him, and so our team took home a set of points from the old Motorcross stadium in Aleje Zygmuntowskie.
11.04.1981 – Lublin (16:30), 21st round of the 1st League, RKS Motor Lublin – FKS PZL-Stal Mielec 2-3 (2-1)
Referee: Ewald Greiner (Gliwice) Spectators: 20,000
Motor: Dariusz Opolski – Krzysztof Wójtowicz, Ryszard Chaberek, Jerzy Szczeszak, Roman Dębiński, Andrzej Pop, Bolesław Mącik, Ryszard Walczak (15 Tadeusz Cypka), Janusz Przybyła, Marek Komosa, Ireneusz Lorenc (74 Waldemar Fiuta) Coach: Bronisław Waligóra
Stal: Janusz Stawarz – Kazimierz Polak, Edward Oratowski, Witold Łukasik (ż), Antoni Mrowiec, Kazimierz Buda, Edward Tyburski (74 Mirosław Abramowicz), Włodzimierz Ciołek, Zbigniew Hnatio, Henryk Janikowski, Krzysztof Frankowski Coach: Marian Kosiński
Goals: Kazimierz Buda 20, 70, Henryk Janikowski 89 – Andrzej Pop 24, Marek Komosa 45 min.
Stali’s league balances with Lublin’s Motor are 15 premier league matches (7 Stali wins, 3 draws, 5 defeats, goals: 17-18. In the 2nd League (2nd level) they competed 6 times (5 Stali wins, 1 draw , in goals: 13-4 for FKS). In the 3rd level (2nd league) they competed 2 times (2 victories for Stali), goals: 4-1.
Leszek Śledziona
Photo: Leszek Śledziona’s archives
