Stal Mielec, after their relegation from the second division, which happened in the 1966/67 season and their unsuccessful attempt to be promoted to the back of the Premier League a year later, was already a completely different team. With many new, young and ambitious players under coach Andrzej Gajewski, they were given a goal by the new management, which they managed to achieve one hundred per cent this spring. The return meeting with Rakow in Mielec (in Częstochowa in autumn it was 0-0) belonged to the genre of summit matches. Before this meeting, the Mielec players were leading in the league table (30 points), having a three-point advantage over Viktoria Jaworzno and the team from under Jasna Góra.
From the first minutes of this meeting, a lot of nervousness could be seen in the actions of players from both teams. It was sooner mastered by the players from Mielec, who already after 20 minutes began to create more composed actions. Our midfield line performed poorly at that time, and the best opportunity was missed in the 41st minute by left wing Janusz Korpanty, who lost the ball in a one-on-one situation with the visiting goalkeeper.
After the interval, in his place on the pitch, he was replaced by 3rd division goalscorer Wladyslaw Paul, who, on the advice of Ryszard Sekulski, found his way to Mielec from Unia Nowa Sarzyna. However, after 1.5 years of term time, mainly in the white-blue reserves, he returned to the aforementioned club. The attacks of the Mielec players in this part of the game gained a lot of strength. Every now and then the visitors’ goalkeeper Gothard Kokott had to intervene, including twice after Kasperczak’s shots under the crossbar. Finally came the 64th minute of the match, which decided the fate of the duel. After a precise pass from Paul, Edward Malenki scored with a shot into the bottom corner. After Stal took the lead, and with the referee’s passive attitude, the game got tougher. This led, at the end of the game, to a brutal attack by Rakov’s attackers on our goalkeeper Zygmunt Kukla, which could have caused a bigger brawl.
27.04.1969 – Mielec, 21st round 3rd league, Stal Mielec – Raków Częstochowa 1-0 (0-0)
Referee: Pawłowski (Lublin) Spectators: 5,000
Stal: Kukla – Paluch, Kosiński, Rachwał, Hansel, Strzelecki, Maleńki, Kasperczak, Koczot (46 Płaneta), Stój, J.Korpanty (46 Paul) Coach: A.Gajewski
Goal: Malenki 64 min.
Stala’s league balances against their rival from Częstochowa at three levels are not very good. In the Premier League (1st division) there have been 10 such duels (1 victory for Stal, 3 draws, 6 defeats, goals: 8-13). In the 1st (2nd) division, 14 matches were contested (5 wins for Stal, 2 draws, 7 defeats, goals: 21-18). On the other hand, 8 matches were played at the third level (4 wins for Stal, 2 draws, 2 defeats, goals: 9-7).
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