Home wins for Vardar and Shkendija, Metalurg destroyed Ohrid 6:0, slim road win for Renova, Teteks and Rabotnicki shared the points in a draw, while Napredok managed to grab a point at 11 Oktomvri in the dying moments. This was the end of the first half of the season in Macedonia.
After a goalless first half, leaders Vardar finally broke down Bregalnica’s defense in the last 25 minutes by scoring three goals. Defender Miroslav Vajs scored the first goal, midfielder Vlatko Grozdanoski was on target for the next goal, while the final score was set by Filip Petrov.
The defending league champions, Shkendija, recorded a come from behind victory after trailing 0:1 at home. Sileks took the lead just before halftime thanks to Angel Nacev’s goal in the third minute of stoppage time in the dying moments of the first half. However, Shkendija responded well in the second half and equalized the score through Izair Emini in the 62nd minute before Jasir Selmani then scored the game winning goal for the home side in the 81st minute.
Metalurg scored six goals in the convincing home victory against Ohrid. After their manager was punished by FFM with a 14 months suspension, the visitors did not come to play and the result tells the whole story. Metalurg capitalized on Ohrid’s state of mind and recorded an easy victory to keep up with the table leaders Vardar. Metalurg will enter the winter break five points behind Vardar.
Last placed 11 Oktomvri was minutes away from securing its third win of the season. With a brace from Vladimir Mojsovski, the home side led 2:0 by the 88th minute but then Napredok scored two goals in the dying moments to clinch a point. The first goal for the visiting club came on an own goal by Igor Mirceski while only a minute later, Blagojce Glavevski tied the score at 2:2.
Teteks took the lead early in the 4th minute against Rabotnicki, but the visitors salvaged a point thanks to captain Borce Manevski’s goal directly from a free kick in the 73rd minute. Meanwhile, Renova defeated Horizont Turnovo on the road with a minimal 0:1 victory thanks to an early goal in the 1st minute by Muharem Bajrami. Both teams also finished the game with 10 men after Dejan Mitrev of Turnovo and Marjan Andonov of Renova were each shown a straight red card in the 40th minute.
The first half of the season has ended with the conclusion of Round 18. After the long winter break in the Macedonian league, the matches will continue on 3 March 2012 with the next round.
Sunday:
Shkendija – Sileks 2:1 (0:1)
62′ Izair Emini, 81′ Jasir Selmani – 45’+3 Angel Nacev
Vardar – Bregalnica Stip 3:0 (0:0)
65′ Miroslav Vajs, 71′ Vlatko Grozdanoski, 84′ Filip Petrov
Saturday:
11 Oktomvri – Napredok 2:2 (1:0)
39′, 73′ Vladimir Mojsovski – 88′ (o.g.) Igor Mirceski, 89′ Blagojce Glavevski
Horizont Turnovo – Renova 0:1 (0:1)
1′ Muharem Bajrami
Metalurg – Ohrid 6:0 (2:0)
27′, 68′ Ljubomir Stevanović, 30′ Goran Dragović, 64′ Dragan Nacevski, 66′ Cvetan Curlinov, 90’+2 Aleksandar Tenekedziev
Teteks – Rabotnicki 1:1 (1:0)
4′ Aleksandar Stojanovski – 73′ Borce Manevski