No surprises in the 23rd round of the Macedonian first football leagues. As expected, the hosts won all five matches where. Pobeda were the only visiting team which scored a goal, while Rabotnicki stopped the bad row of four matches without a win.
Rabotnicki Skopje – Pelister Bitola 2:0 (2:0)
6' 25' Wandeir
After the slow start of the second half of the season, Rabotnicki stopped their row of bad performances in the last three defeats and managed to celebrate a win over last placed Pelister.
Motivated to finally get a win, Rabotnicki started attacking right from the start and the first goal was scored in the 6th minute. Brazilian striker with Macedonian passport Wandeir was about to take a free kick from the left side, far from the goal. But instead of sending a cross in the box, he sent a shot directly towards the goal, confused the goalkeeper Nikov who only followed the ball above him which finished in his net. Pelister could have equalized in the 19th minute when Jandric whit a shot from inside the box, sent the ball over the goal. And then in the 25th minute Rabotnicki sealed the win. Excellent through ball was sent towards to Wandeir who ran from the right side, entered the box and scored again with a good strong shot.
Towards the end of the first half, Pelister had very good chance to score when Rutevski sent a cross from the right side and Rabotnicki's defender Dimovski was close to score an own goal when he tried to block the ball which went just over the goal. In the 44th minute Wandeir assisted Pandev on the edge of the box and he sent a strong shot, but Pelister's goalkeeper Nikov blocked his shot in corner. After the corner kick was taken, Sekulovski shot from close range, but Nikov managed to save it. Pelister threatened on the other side in the last minute of the first half, when Rutevski took a free kick from the right side and the goalkeeper Georgievski saved the shot on the goal line.
With two goals down on the half time, Pelister started the second half with more motivation and made pressure on Rabotnicki's goal. Rutevski sent a long shot in the 50th minute, but Georgievski blocked it in to corner. Three minutes later, a through ball was sent towards to Talevski who came out alone with Georgievski who managed to block his kick. In the 55th minute, after a small mistake by Rabotnicki's defence, two Pelister players came out against the goalkeeper Georgievski but after a contact with a player from Rabotnicki, Glavevski fell in the box. Pelister's players made big protests because of referee's decision not to whistle for a penalty kick, but the match continued after the very short break. But those efforts were the last from Pelister who didn't had enough potential to continue with the pressure, so Rabotnicki controlled the rest of the match which was mostly played in the middle of the pitch. Osmani had two chances in the 85th and 90th minute but failed to score the third goal for Rabotnicki. The third goal was scored in the last seconds of the match when after a corner kick Bojovic put the ball in the net with a header, but he also fouled the goalkeeper, so this goal was disallowed.
Pelister's agony continued, but MacedonianFootball.com brings an interesting information that will cheer up all Pelister fans. Pelister's president Krume Volnarov today on the stadium in Skopje was accompanied by two Arabs. As we unofficially found out, rich Arabs (most probably from Egypt) are negotiating their entrance in the football club from Bitola and apart from finances, they should also bring few good players from Africa. The first reinforcement should be Hossam Hassam Junior, an Egyptian U20 national team member.
Vardar Skopje – Napredok Kicevo 2:0 (1:0)
45' Ejupi, 49' Kostencovski
Vardar continued their good performances in the spring part of the season. From the beginning of the match, Vardar had the ball and started attacking as Ejupi sent a shot from 15 meters in the 1st minute of the match, but the ball went next to the goal. Few minutes later, Emurlahu came out alone but Napredok's defender blocked the ball in the last moment and the ball went in corner. After the corner was taken, Jancevski headed the ball towards the goal, but it was cleared from the goal line.
Napredok had a big chance to score and probably their only real chance on this match when in the 26th minute Simjanovski tried to lob Pacovski from 25 meters, but the ball only hit the bar. Vardar continued attacking and had chance to score in the 38th minute when Bozinovski's shot from 15 meters was saved by Karamacovski. Two minutes later, after a cross from the right, Jancevski was pushed in the box, but no penalty was awarded for Vardar. The hosts finally took the lead in the last minute of the first half when Kostencovski entered the box and assisted Muzafer Ejupi who easily scored.
Four minutes after the start of the second half, Ejupi returned the favour when this time he assisted Marko Kostencovski in the box who doubled Vardar's lead. This goal ended all hopes for Napredok who were powerless on this match, so Vardar had the complete control. Towards the end of the match there were few good chances for scoring third goal and most notable were the two headers by Jancevski, but the score stayed 2:0 until the end.
Makedonija GjP Skopje – Sileks Kratovo 2:0 (0:0)
66' Kleckaroski, 74' Ilievski
Leaders Makedonija, as always when they play on their stadium in Gjorce, were big favorites over Sileks, but didn't get the points very easy as the guests gave big resist, especially in the first half. Makedonija made big pressure in the first half, but Sileks' defence worked well and kept the opponents away from their goal. But their resist lasted until the 43rd minute when the new signing from Gabon, Popol Kiende took a corner kick from the right side and sent the ball towards Milevski who headed the ball, but Stupic blocked it with his hand. A penalty kick was awarded for Makedonija and their best striker De Brito took the kick, but the goalkeeper Dejan Kosturanov saved the penalty and the result stayed 0:0 on the half time.
Makedonija continued with their domination and had the complete control of the match in the second half. Mitrev had a good chance to score the opening goal when he tried to lob the goalkeeper, but only hit the bar. In the 58th minute, Osa sent a shot which finished next to the goal.
Finally in the 66th minute Makedonija took the lead when Nikolce Kleckaroski scored with a nice turn shot. In the 74th minute, Milan Ilievski used a mistake by the defence, stole the ball and scored for 2:0 with which he confirmed the victory for the leaders Makedonija.
Renova Dzepciste – Metalurg Skopje 4:0 (3:0)
6' Memedi, 23' 64' Ibraimi, 41' Emini(pen)
Unlike the last round when Metalurg left Tetovo with a point, Renova didn't let another surprise this time. The hosts started their domination and announced their win in the 6th minute when after a fast attack in the 6th minute, Agron Memedi from close range scored the opening goal. Metalurg tried to equalize and had few good chances but Spasojevic, Popovic and Gjuric failed to score in the first half. In the 23rd minute, a free kick on more then 25 meters was awarded for Renova and Besart Ibraimi took it. He sent a powerful shot and scored another beautiful goal. In the 40th minute Metalurg had a chance to lower Renova's lead, but Kovacevic saved Velkovski's kick. A minute later, Vajs fouled Ibraimi in the box and the referee whistled for a penalty. Vulnet Emini took the penalty and scored for 3:0.
With a slower play in the second half, Renova controled the result and didn't alow Metalurg's players to lower their lead. In the 64th minute Ismaili came towards the goalkeeper and passed to Ibraimi who scored his second goal ans set the final score.
Milano Kumanovo – Pobeda Prilep 3:1 (1:0)
26' Gashi, 52' Gligorovski, 87 Aleksovski – 90' Krstev
As expected, Milano noted an easy win against Pobeda whose players didn't have much time to focus on this match because of the problems in their club. The match was played mostly on the middle of the pitch and after the initiative, Fisnik Gashi with a long shot from 20 meters scored the opening goal.
Ivica Gligorovski and Sasho Aleksovski in the second half confirmed the victory for Milano, while Mile Krstev in the last minute of the match scored the only goal for Pobeda, which was also the only goal scored by an away team this round.