The second friendly match in Antalya saw the Lynx losing 1:0 by Montenegro after conceding a goal in the dying moments before the break.
photo by FSCG: Miloš Brnović tackles Tihomir Kostadinov
Coach Blagoja Milevski made only three changes in the starting line-up from Friday’s match against Moldova fielding Velkovski, Zajkov and Kostadinov instead of Iljazovski, Serafimov and Ristovski which resulted in Elmas moving up as second striker. Montenegro came in this match after defeating Belarus 2:0 on Thursday, also in Antalya. It is worth noting that their coach Robert Prosinečki started against Macedonia with 10 different players, with only captain Stevan Jovetić making another start.
Macedonia had the possession and was the better team in the opening half, but the Lynx played well in midfield and were idealess and harmless in the attack. The first chance came in the 6th minute when Bardhi found Miovski, but his shot was weak and an easy save for Šarkić. Elmas followed with two attempts in the 12th and 19th minute, but first Šarkić made a save as Elmas fired from 20 meters and later the Macedonian shot wide.
Montenegro’s first attempt came only in the 26th minute when they actually fired twice. First Bakić missed the target and seconds later Camaj was also imprecise. Bardhi tried twice from a free kick – first his shot came close the right post, while the other was an awful shot. In the 35th minute Bakić made a bad tackle from behind on Bardhi when he kicked his leg and a brawl occurred as Elmas reacted harshly towards with him Bakić which made Savić to confront Elmas – the outcome was the three players getting booked for their reactions.
Camaj took a corner kick in the last minute of the opening half, found Jovetić who was badly marked by Velkovski and the most famous Montenegrin played header home. For 45 minutes Dimitrievski never had to make a save and then he had to take the ball out of his net.
The goal:
It is interesting that this was the 3rd goal for Jovetić against Macedonia as previously he scored in their 2:1 win in 2008 and in our 4:1 win in 2015. He kept a perfect score – 3 goals in 3 matches against Macedonia (he did not play in the 2010 match).
In the second half both coaches made several changes which resulted in a totally different match. Just after three minutes Trajkovski tried searching for an equalizer, but his finishing was not good. Not many chances were created as Montenegro managed to keep the 1:0 lead. The Montenegrins had a chance in the 60th minute through Mugoša when his header went above the goal. Interesting situation happened when the Montenegrin coach lined up four players to enter the pitch. Captain Jovetić thought that he was about to be substituted, so he gave the armband to Savić. However, he was wrong, he returned to play but was no longer captain.
The second half saw only few chances, none of the a great opportunity. Captain Bardhi had the last chance to get a draw for Macedonia when in the 89th minute fired wide from distance.
Despite before coming to Turkey our coach was that he will give every player minutes on the field, he left Todor Todoroski, David Babunski and Davor Zdravkovski twice on the bench without ever getting in, same as the three reserve keepers Igor Aleksovski, Damjan Shishkovski and Dejan Iliev.
This was the 4th match against Montenegro with all of them being friendlies. So far the score is 2 wins each with no draws.
Coach Milevski had his birthday today, turning 53. Unfortunately, the players gave him the worst possible gift – a defeat.