The 17th season of the Macedonian First Football League started today with the four opening match. Vardar defeated Pobeda in the most interesting match, while current champion Rabotnicki drew away to Napredok.
Vardar Skopje – Pobeda Prilep 3:0 (0:0)
55' Jancevski, 63' Krsteski(og), 84' Gligorov
The new end strengthened squad of FK Vardar started the 51st encounter against rivals Pobeda on furious way. After the first shot by Pobeda on Vardar goal in the opening minutes, Vardar took over the control and had complete domination with few serious chances created on Pobeda's goal but goalkeeper Ugrenovic succesfully kept his net empty. But the pressure on Pobeda's goal culminated on 10 minutes from the 2nd half when Boban Jancevski scored the opening goal for Vardar with a nice header after Musa Ali's cross from the left side. This goal gave boost to Vardar's players and in the 63rd minute Artim Polozani sent a cross towards Pobeda's goal which the defender Krsteski unsuccesfully turned it towards his goal and scored an own goal. Towards the end of the match midfielder Nikola Gligorov entered Pobeda's box from the left side and scored another goal for the final score of 3:0 and total of 27 wins for Vardar against Pobeda.
Napredok Kicevo – Rabotnicki Skopje 1:1 (1:0)
43' Niceski – 77' Aksentiev
Current Macedonian champion Rabotnicki with their completely new team traveled to Kicevo where they were hosted by the relegation candidates Napredok. The hosts had a small domination during the first half, until the defender Oliver Askov was sent-off in the 34th minute. But thus didn't stop Napredok and they even managed to take the lead with 10 men squad with the goal by veteran Antonio Niceski in the 43rd minute. The guests managed to consolidate their squad in the second half and used the player advantage. In the 77th minute Eftim Aksentiev scored the equaliser. In the last minutes Rabotnicki tried to score a winning goal but Napredok saved their net and the match ended with a 1:1 draw.
Makedonija GjP – Horizont Turnovo 4:0 (3:0)
24' 53' De Brito, 30' Washington, 40' Pandev(og)
Makedonija GjP strengthened with few foreigners hosted newly promoted Turnovo and they didn't have hard task to win the 3 points on this match. The new signings, Brazilians De Brito and Washington dominated in Makedonija's attack during the whole match. Cesar De Brito scored the opening goal in the 24th and the last in the 53rd minut and the 203cm tall Washington scored in the 30th minute, while Pandev scored an own goal in the 40th minute. Turnovo's task for defending their goal was even harder when Krstev was sent-off.
Renova Dzepciste – Sileks Kratovo 0:0
Renova and Sileks split the points with the most unpopular result 0:0 but the match was not so boring as the score line shows. In the first half Renova made pressure on the oponent's goal and created few serious chances, mainly by Besart Ibraimi, but the goalkeeper Simov was very succesfull. In the 2nd half few more chances were created on both side but the attackers were not in the mood for scoring today.
The last match from this round between Milano and Metalurg will be played on Wednesday, 06/08/2008 at 17:00 CET, while Pelister is free this round after Bashkimi quit the competition.
Video highlights from Vardar-Pobeda and Makedonija-Turnovo matches
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=4tgxDdOyyDY 400 300]