Turnovo celebrated a win on penalties eliminating Sūduva and earning a clash against Balkan giants Hajduk from Split.

Horizont Turnovo and Lithuanian side Sūduva once again played a 2:2. The visitors played as they promised before the game, trying to score. They were forcing shots from distance, while the home team was trying to get into the box. After few chances on both sides everyone thoughts that it would be a goalless first time when Sūduva took a free kick. Petar Bašić’s shot hit the wall, but Nerijus Valskis took a shot from the rebound and scored a beautiful goal.

Just two minutes into the second half and Iljo Mitrov tied the score with a header after Blazhevski’s corner kick. But Turnovo’s joy ended after five minutes since Tomas Radzinevičius scored for another Lithuanian lead and got a yellow card for taking of his shirt. In the 59th minute the same played was sent off for a second yellow after tackling Dejan Mitrev. Since then it was easier for Turnovo to control the game, but harder to create chances since the visitors started playing a bunker. Deep into the injury time, Gytis Urba played with hand in the box and the referee awarded Turnovo a penalty, a chance that Dejan Blazhevski converted into a goal for a final result of 2:2.

Since the first leg ended with the same score, extra time had to be played. But the result remained the same penalties had to decide the winner of this tie. After two missed penalties on both sides, the very last serie happened to be decisive. First Stojan Dimovski saved Povilas Leimonas’ shot and than 17-years-old Gjorgji Stoilov scored for a historic success in Turnovo’s first ever European adventure.

Turnovo advances and next week will face Croatian and Balkan giants Hajduk from the city of Split.

National Arena Philip II of Macedon in Skopje
Scorers: 47′ Mitrov, 90’+7 (pen) Blazhevski – 43′ Valskis, 52′ Radzinevičius
Turnovo: Dimovski (c); Iliev, Petrov (82′ Tashev), Mitrev, Varelovski; Vasilev (90’+1 Najdenov), Mitrov (71′ Stoilov), Mavrov, Tenekedjiev; Blazhevski, Baldovaliev. Manager: Ali Güneş.
Sūduva: Davidovs; Radžius, Isoda, Leimonas (c), Chvedukas (90’+2 Urba), Valskis (90’+4 Brokas), Baranovskij (81′ Bagdanavičius), Bašić, Radzinevičius, Šoblinskas, Uggè. Manager: Darius Gvildys.
Yellow cards: Tenekedjiev, Varelovski, Baldovaliev, Stoilov (T), Radzinevičius x2, Urba (S).
Red cards: 59′ Radzinevičius
Referee: Clayton Pisani (Malta)
Assistants: Alan Camilleri, Paul Apap; Forth official: Mario Apap (all Malta).

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