It was an extremely tough time for our Steel. On their return to the Premier League, after a break of almost a quarter of a century, the blue-and-whites, under the coaching eye of Dariusz Skrzypczak, were paying the price as a newcomer, with just five points after nine rounds (a 3-2 home win against Piast Gliwice and two 1-1 away draws against Wisła Płock and Cracovia). After the last two painful defeats (0-6 against Kraków’s Wisła – an infamous record, and 0-1 against Warta Poznan) at the Solski 1 stadium, there was a change in the coaching stool in Mielec, as 10 days earlier Leszek Ojrzyński took over the white-blues.
The beginning of the meeting in Lubin (I was one of the few to watch it live from the stands) did not indicate that the Mielec players would break their bad streak on that day. The locals attacked hard from the start and already in the 17th minute they enjoyed the lead. In the middle of the field, Poręba played the ball over the forwards of the Steel players. The ball found its way to Kacper Chodyna, who first deflected it with his chest and then, with a shot from 8 metres from the right side of the penalty area, forced Rafał Strączek, who did not show off while trying to defend the shot, to capitulate. Two minutes later, on an attempt to kick the ball out for a corner, Matras failed to show off and forced our goalkeeper to intervene. Zagłębie continued to dominate and after another quarter of an hour they were happy to increase the result. This time Saša Balić entered the list of goal scorers. The hosts took a corner kick from the left, too inaccurately to Domanski played the ball to Prokić with his head. The former did not control the ball, a throw-in from the right followed, and the Montenegrin, who was not guarded in the goal area, sent the ball into the net with his head shot (after a lofted pass). In this part of the game, Stal responded with a contact goal from Maciej Domanski just 180 seconds later. Mak dribbled into the penalty area from the right and his pass was not very successfully knocked out to the 14-metre area by later Stal player Adam Ratajczyk. Domanski immediately banged like a cannon, and the ball bounced off the crossbar and fluttered into the Copper’s net.
Already at the start of the second half, in the 50th minute, our players took a free kick from a distance of around 30 metres. Petteri Forsell, a Finnish player introduced on the pitch after the interval, who had previously been famous for his atomic strike on Polish pitches, approached the ball. This time, he hit the ball with a weaker, but extremely precise lob, and it went almost into the Lubin goal’s window. Unfortunately, it was the only goal of this nice player in the colours of Stala. After our team equalised, both teams created just five situations to tip the scales of victory in their favour (Szysz’s shot into the side netting, Bednarczyk’s angled strike, Starzyński’s miss – in the return Koscielny’s missed header, Tomczyk’s volley), but the score remained unchanged until the final whistle.
An abbreviated version of this meeting can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrtNdYrroIQ
21.11.2020 – Lubin, 10th round Ekstraklasa, Zagłębie Lubin – FKS Stal Mielec 2-2 (2-1)
Referee: Stefanski (Bydgoszcz) Spectators: not in attendance
Zagłębie: Gladun – Chodyna, Šimić (ż), Guldan, Balić, Szysz, Poręba, Żubrowski (65 Baszkirow), Starzyński, Ratajczyk (65 Bednarczyk), Mráz (81 Sirk) Coach: M.Ševela
Stal: Strączek – Kościelny, Żyro (ż), Czorbadżijski (81 Sus), Flis, Mak (ż; 67 Wróbel (ż)), Tomasiewicz, Matras, Domański, Prokić (46 Forsell), Zjawiński (46 Tomczyk) Coach: L.Ojrzyński
Goals: Chodyna 17, Balić 34 – Domański 37, Forsell 50 min.
Stali’s league balances with Zagłębie Lubin relate exclusively to appearances in the Premier League (formerly known as the First League) and are decidedly unfavourable for Stali. They have played 25 matches against each other (5 Stali wins, 6 draws, 14 defeats; goals: 25-39).
Leszek Śledziona
