Shkendija overcame an early deficit to destroy Bregalnica, Vardar squeaked past Metalurg, Sileks picked up another victory, while Turnovo grabbed a late draw away to Shkupi.
Vardar collected its third consecutive victory in league play by edging Metalurg 1:0. The lone goal was scored in the 15th minute by Dejan Blazhevski. That player won a penalty in that instance and converted the subsequent spot kick. That lead stood the rest of the way as Vardar has now accumulated 10 points in the opening four rounds.
Highlights of the game:
Vardar: Pachovski, Hambardzumyan, Velkovski, Mijušković, Popov, Gligorov, Nikolov, Juan Felipe (75′ Ljamchevski), Dashyan (58′ P. Petkovski), Blazhevski, Ivanovski (68′ F. Petkovski).
Metalurg: Taleski, Ristovski, Ilieski, Mitrevski, Gjorgievski, Krivanjeva, Bakracheski (76′ Naumoski), Jevtoski (60′ Mersovski), Danoski, Jakimoski, Stojanovski (66′ Bujchevski).
Over in Gostivar, Shkendija dominated Bregalnica to win in relatively easy fashion 5:1. It was actually Bregalnica who opened the scoring in the 7th minute after a well executed counter attack, but Shkendija responded with five unanswered goals. Besart Ibraimi scored the first two goals, Ferhan Hasani notched the third goal and was also responsible for the fourth goal (his cross hit the leg of a Bregalnica player which led to an own goal), while Armend Alimi put the finishing touches in the 79th minute with a nice strike from distance.
Highlights of the game:
Shkendija: Jovanovski, Todorovski, Polozhani (46′ Abdula), Bejtulai, Cuculi, Demiri, Alimi, Stênio Júnior, Hasani (61′ Vručina), Ibraimi, Kirovski (73′ Totre).
Bregalnica: Zahov, Blazheski, Tonev, Stojanov, Mitrev (75′ Kocev), Hristov, Zdravkov, Nikovski, Mishev (57′ Velkovski), Nacev, Stankovic (48′ Ristovski).
Sileks stayed undefeated with a 1:0 triumph over struggling Renova. Striker Igor Nedeljkovic netted the only goal in the 24th minute via a converted penalty kick. That was enough for Sileks to snatch all three ponts. They currently sit in a tie for first place with Vardar, but Sileks has still not played the “big three” of Vardar, Shkendija and Rabotnichki thus far in the season. We’ll see whether they are for real after those matches.
Video of the converted penalty by Sileks:
Sileks: Mitrović, Timovski, Mickov, Rudan, Ivanov, Gucev, Mitevski (66′ Filipovski), Panovski (61′ Acevski), Duranski, Gorgiev (77′ Todorov), Nedeljković.
Renova: Neziri, Memedi, Mecinovikj, Mishkovski, Musliu, Gafuri (39′ Mojsov), Shabani (80′ Redjepi), Sadiki (77′ Jusufi), Ramadani, Nuhiu, Emini.
Shkupi, meanwhile, dropped two points by conceding a late equalizer against Turnovo. Substitute Fatmir Arif had given Shkupi the lead in the 70th minute, but Turnovo managed to equalizer in the 90th minute. The referee awarded Turnovo a penalty and Sashko Pandev sent his effort past the Shkupi keeper for a final score of 1:1.
Highlights of the game:
Shkupi: Zendeli, Murati, B. Asani, Adili, Lazarevski, Bajrami, E. Asani, Adem, Osmani (65′ Arif), Zuka (46′ Geunbae), Nuhiu (55′ Demiri).
Turnovo: Stoilkov, Tashev, Iliev, Ivanov, Milushev, Tafe, Mavrov, Matute (80′ Tanushev), Stoilov (52′ Najdenov), Imeri, Pandev.
Rabotnichki’s scheduled road game against Mladost Carev Dvor was obviously postponed since Rabotnichki faces Rubin in the Europa League qualifications on Thursday:
Round 4:
Vardar – Metalurg 1:0
15′ (pen) Dejan Blazhevski
Shkendija – Bregalnica 5:1
15′, 21′ Besart Ibraimi, 32′ Ferhan Hasani, 44′ (o.g.) Nikolay Hristov, 79′ Armend Alimi – 7′ Angel Nacev
Sileks – Renova 1:0
24′ (pen) Igor Nedeljković
Shkupi – Turnovo 1:1
70′ Fatmir Arif – 90′ (pen) Sashko Pandev
Mladost Carev Dvor vs. Rabotnichki was postponed