Macedonian First League – Round 31

Makedonija - VardarRenova won the battle for the second position, while Sileks and Pobeda managed to win important points in the battle on the bottom for avoiding the play-out zone. Metalurg now dropped in the dangerous zone after being defeated at home by Rabotnicki.

Makedonija GjP Skopje – Vardar Skopje 0:0 (0:0)
The most relaxed match from this round that had no importance for the league table was played in Gjorce Petrov and was used by Makedonija to promote their title in front of their fans.
The first half didn't bring much entertaining football. Makedonija had more of the possession but didn't make some real scoring chances, while Vardar on the other side didn't had a single shot on target. Makedonija's good scoring chances happened in the 2nd minute by Nastoski and in the 34th minute by Ilievski but there were no goals in the first half.
Vardar threatened first in the second half as Boban Jancevski had two very good scoring chances. His first shot was saved by the goalkeeper Pavlović and in the 59th minute Jancevski missed the ball and failed to score in the empty net. Nijazi Lena had a chance to score for Makedonija towards the end of the match when he tried to lob Pacovski, but the ball ended above the goal. The best chance on the match happened in the 87th minute when Vardar's Muzafer Ejupi hit the cross-bar with a header kick and the match ended with 0:0

Metalurg Skopje – Rabotnicki Skopje 0:1 (0:1) (report)
41' Wandeir
A match that had big importance only for one team. Rabotnicki are concentrated on the Cup final and didn't need the points from this match, while Metalurg were in desperate need for the win in order to avoid the relegation play-out.
But not everything went as planed for the hosts. Metalurg had few good chances to score during the first half, but failed to use them. Big shock for the hosts happened in the 41st minute when Wandeir scored the opening goal and took Rabotnicki in the lead with a goal from free kick from 25 meters.
Metalurg continued with their pressure in the second half and attacked towards Rabotnicki's goal, but the guests also tried to use their chances after their fast counter attacks. The coach Gjore Jovanovski made changes and went all in attack, but with this move he also created more space for Rabotnicki's attackers. Both teams had few scoring chances in the second half, but failed to use them and Rabotnicki left Zelezarnica with the points.
With this defeat and Pobeda's win over Turnovo, Metalurg now dropped on the 9th position and are now placed in the dangerous zone – the relegation play-out.

Renova Dzepciste – Milano Kumanovo 4:1 (3:1)
28' Todorovski, 30' 35' 65' Ibraimi – 26' Hyseni
Renova hosted Milano in the battle for the second position and a very interesting match was played in Tetovo. All the big excitements in the first half happened in less then ten minutes. Milano took the lead in the 26th minute with the goal scored by Genc Hyseni. But they held the lead for only two minutes as Blagoja Todorovski equalized in the 28th minute. Only two minutes later Ali assisted to Besart Ibraimi who took Renova in the lead. Few minutes later and with the second goal by Besart Ibraimi, Renova doubled the lead.
In the second half, Besart Ibraimi marked his great performance with a hat-trick when he scored his third goal in the 65th minute. Heavy rain started in Tetovo in the second half which created almost impossible conditions for playing football. Under those conditions, the players played much slower and ended the match with 4:1.  

Pobeda Prilep – Horizont Turnovo 2:0 (1:0)
1' Stanojlović, 51' Nestorovski
One of the two derbies of the bottom which was important for the relegation battle was played in Prilep. Motivated to win the points in order to escape from the play-out, Pobeda started attacking from the kick-off and managed to score in their first chance. Nebojša Stanojlović went in attack from the right and sent a shot which hit the post and ended in net for Pobeda's lead. Pobeda continued attacking, but the first half ended with the same result as the first minute.
And again in the second half, Pobeda played much better then the guests and in the 51st minute Ilija Nestorovski managed to doubled the lead with a header after a corner kick. After this goal, the guests gave up and allowed Pobeda to continue controlling the match and their lead.
With this important win, Pobeda escaped from the play-out, while Turnovo dropped on the 7th position.  

Sileks Kratovo – Pelister Bitola 1:0 (1:0)
42' Ristić
Very hard conditions for playing football in Kratovo during the first half as the strong wind and heavy rains made big problems for the players, so in the first part of the first half both sides failed to threaten on the goal. Towards the end of the first half, the rain stopped and gave the players opportunity to play more entertaining football, so the Serbian player Mladen Ristić managed to score in the 42nd minute and took Sileks in lead.
After a few dubious decision by the referee, Pelister's players made big protests against the refereeing on this match. In one of these situations, Pelister most experienced players Bruno Presilski recived a red card because of his protests. With a player more, Sileks managed to control the match in the middle of the pitch and didn't allow Pelister's attackers to make good scoring opportunities in front of their goal and ended the match with 1:0. 

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