It was a disastrous autumn for the Mielczans, who a year earlier had been a revelation in the Polish Premier League (they finished 3rd and played in the UEFA Cup against Belgium’s KSC Lokeren). Before the last round of the first round, after 14 games, they had just one win and five draws on their account. They occupied last place (7 points) with a loss of five points to Cracovia, who were in first, safe place in the table. The blue-and-white team had been managed by Witold Karaś, who took the place (after the 9th round) of Józef Walczak for five rounds (3 draws and 2 defeats). As he said in a post-match report for Przegląd Sportowy: ‘Attack and more attack until the last minute even if we lose a goal first. We must finally break the bad streak of accidental defeats.
The match against Pogoń szczecinska, who have a chance for the autumn championship title if they win in Mielec, started from a low level. Hnatio was at the forefront of missed final passes, while strikers Łatka and Janikowski lost a lot of balls. The visitors created three good opportunities to score in the first half (Zambrzycki in the 6th and 23rd and Kensy in the 39th minute), but luckily they did not hit the ball very accurately. Stal upped the tempo in the last fifteen minutes of the first half. Buda (32 min.) tried his chance from a free kick and Białek, who hit the first ball straight at the visiting goalkeeper.
After the change of sides, the game of the Mielec players definitely improved. The change of Banasik in place of Skiba was decisive. Białek moved back in place of the latter. Despite playing against the wind, Stal’s actions began to interlock. There were several dangerous strikes performed by: Białek, Janikowski and Łatka, but the visitors, backed into the defence, successfully defended. The decisive action of the match took place in the 78th minute. Andrzej Banasik, who was going for a breakthrough, was foully stopped by Sokolowski in the penalty area. Kazimierz Buda proved to be the effective penalty kick taker. Three minutes later, a similar occurrence took place in the Porters ‘ 16, but this time again an offence by the same Pogoń player on Janikowski went unpunished. And such was the meeting that poured a lot of hope into the hearts of our fans (including the undersigned) (unfortunately, relegation to the second division had become a fact) for a better return round.
21.11.1982 – Mielec (11.15), 15th round 1st League, FKS PZL-Stal Mielec – MKS Pogoń Szczecin 1-0 (0-0)
Referee: Jozef Banasz (Katowice) Spectators: 4,000
Pogoń: Marek Szczech – Krzysztof Urbanowicz, Zbigniew Kozłowski, Kazimierz Sokołowski, Zbigniew Czepan, Jarosław Biernat (ż), Adam Kensy, Marek Ostrowski, Andrzej Woronko (84 Dariusz Krupa), Zbigniew Stelmasiak, Mirosław Zambrzycki (ż) Coach: Eugeniusz Ksol
Stal: Janusz Stawarz – Bogusław Skiba (46 min. Andrzej Banasik), Edward Oratowski, Stefan Kawalec, Dariusz Kubicki, Zbigniew Hnatio (ż), Włodzimierz Ciołek, Janusz Białek, Henryk Janikowski, Kazimierz Buda, Andrzej Łatka Coach: Witold Karaś
Goal: Kazimierz Buda 78 (penalty) min.
To sum up, the balance of all 45 (home and away) extra-class duels between Stala and Pogoń is quite even – 16 wins for Stala, 14 draws, 15 defeats. The goal ratio is 53-50 for the Mielec players. Second-league struggles are 2 matches (1 draw, 1 defeat; goals ratio 5-7). In the 5 Polish Cup matches, the balance is as follows (3 wins for Stali, 1 draw, 1 defeat; goals 11-7).
Leszek Śledziona
Photo: Leszek Śledziona’s archives
