Pelister and Vardar played a boring match which saw no goals, while Napredok defeated Bregalnica in Kochani.
Round 19 from the First Macedonian football league continued today with two more matches, one of which was the derby of Macedonia. Pelister hosted Vardar in Bitola in highly anticipated match which eventually disappointed the true football fans.
Neither of the teams was brave enough to attack. It seemed like the pressure that brings this derby made both managers careful. Ilievski already has a lot of pressure over him after Vardar’s bad results in the preparation period, while Zdravkov needs to be careful because losing points at home might mean relegation for Pelister.
The match lacked away fans to be a complete derby, but in reality, quality of play was even more missing. There weren’t any serious chances at all and all we saw were several smaller opportunities for either team, but eventually no team deserved to win and 0:0 was the most realistic result. Vardar had the first opportunity of the match early in 4th minute but Bojović’s header was saved by Korunovski. Pelister relied on spot kicks in the first half but did not manage to produce a serious chance in front of Vardar’s goal. Nothing in particular changed in the second half and both teams continued in their manner. Referee Marjan Markoski did not allow harsh play and was whistling often which did not allow a better play, although who knows if both teams were able to show it.
Post-match, the home fans clashed with the police outside the stadium and the riots moved to the city center but all was quickly resolved and no serious damage was done.
Pelister: Korunovski; Kitanovski, Lazarevski, Leskaroski, Dragarski, Maglovski (64′ Veljanoski), Elmazovski, Meglenski, Hristov (75′ Kekec), Ristevski (88′ Veljanovski), Markovski.
Vardar: Milić; Ilievski, Vajs, Bojović (34′ Dimitrovski), Lazarevski, Osa, Ranđelović (89′ Giménez), Stjepanovikj, Petrović, Kostovski, Gjorgiev (90′ Petrov).
In the other match played today, Napredok defeated Bregalnica Shtip in Kochani with the lone goal of the match scored by Hristijan Dimoski in 68th minute. The match was played in Kochani because of the flooded stadium in Shtip.
The last match of this round is the one between Renova and Shkendija which will most probably be played tomorrow in Tetovo.