Twelve games took place on Wednesday in which all of the favorites celebrated victories. The only mild surprise was last season’s runner-up Teteks exiting the cup to Ljubanci. Both are now second division sides.
Vardar and Shkendija, two of the heavy favorites for the cup trophy, defeated their opponents in regulation. It was harder than expected for Vardar, but they won 1:0 away to Kozhuf Miravci. The game was decided by attacker Dejan Blazhevski who successfully converted a penalty kick in the 33rd minute after an opposing player used his hand inside the area.
Shkendija, meanwhile, was much more convincing and smashed third league side Zajazi. Two goals in each half led to the comfortable triumph for Shkendija. The goals were scored by Muhamed Useini, Hristijan Kirovski, Marjan Radeski and Besart Ibraimi.
Highlights:
Sileks had no problems with Prevalec, just like Shkupi with Ljuboten. Metalurg, on the other hand, put on a show in Berovo by beating Malesh 9:1. The local football fans there had a great opportunity to watch football again as Malesh wasn’t active for a while.
Turnovo netted the most goals today, leading to the victory with the best margin. They humiliated fourth league participant Liria Zagrachani with an unbelievable result of 11:0.
Renova had a tough time with Gorno Lisiche of the second division, but they eventually prevailed. The score was tied at 1:1 late in the match, but Gorno Lisiche scored an unfortunately own goal in the dying moments to exit the competition. They were that close to forcing a penalty shootout. Instead, Renova barely held on.
Highlights:
Belasica expected more against Skopje, but the latter proved to be mission impossible for the Strumica based club. Despite good support from the fans, Skopje left with a 2:0 victory.
Strange situation occurred in Ohrid where the fourth league team of Vulkan hosted Makedonija Gjorche Petrov. Despite holding a surprising 2:0 lead at half-time, Vulkan failed to take the field in the 2nd half. Apparently, the match supervisor asked some of the Vulkan players to present their IDs. They supposedly refused and the whole team went home. That likely means that Vulkan had unregistered players on the team. So, Makedonija GjP will get an automatic 3:0 win after the decision by Vulkan.
Three of the games were tied after 90 minutes, so they went into the penalty shootout. Teteks, the runner-up last season, was eliminated by Ljubanci, the team that in two seasons managed to get to the Second League from the Fourth League. Teteks even played with 10 men after Filip Najdovski received a second yellow in the 62nd minute, but it stayed 1:1 after 90 minutes. In the end, Ljubanci moved on by winning on penalty kicks.
Highlights:
Mladost Carev Dvor was seconds away from a win in regulation, but Blagoja Geshoski of Pobeda converted a spot kick deep into stoppage time to force a penalty shootout. Despite Pobeda having the momentum and being at home, Mladost showed good poise and prevailed.
The third game that went into penalties was Poeshevo vs. Gostivar. The latter barely advances after a goalless draw in regulation time.
The last three games of the round will be played tomorrow. Keep in mind that one additional game was cancelled as Drita quit the Cup. That allowed Vlazrimi 77 to advance without playing.
The complete results:
Gorno Lisiche – Renova 1:2 (0:1)
53′ Simeon Hristov – 45′ Izair Emini, 90’+1 (og) Milan Ristovski
Vulkan – Makedonija Gjorche Petrov interrupted while 2:0, 0:3 awarded
22′ Darko Simjanoski, 32′ Boge Bimbiloski
Prevalec – Sileks 0:4 (0:3)
16′ Andrej Acevski, 36′ Marjan Mickov, 38′ Angelche Timovski, 72′ Blagoj Gucev
Liria Zagrachani – Horizont Turnovo 0:11 (0:5)
4′, 89′ Shqiprim Taipi, 14′, 30′, 84′ Gjorgi Tanushev, 26′, 38′ Arben Tafe, 61′, 64′, 74′ Gjorgi Stoilov, 62′ David Matute
Zajazi – Shkendija 0:4 (0:2)
9′ Muhamed Useini, 34′ Hristijan Kirovski, 48′ Marjan Radeski, 79′ Besart Ibraimi
Belasica – Skopje 0:2 (0:1)
17′ Gjoko Aleksovski, 90’+2 Darko Milevski
Ljubanci – Teteks 1:1 (0:1) 4:3 on penalties
58′ Darko Lazarevski – 42′ Filip Despotovski
Pobeda – Mladost Carev Dvor 1:1 (0:0) 6:7 on penalties
90’+5 (pen) Blagoja Geshoski – 54′ Riste Ilijovski
Kozhuf Miravci – Vardar 0:1 (0:0)
33′ (pen) Dejan Blazhevski
Poeshevo – Gostivar 0:0 3:5 on penalties
Malesh – Metalurg 1:9 (0:3)
83′ Aleksandar Mishovski – 5′, 47′ (pen) Antonio Bujchevski, 29′, 80′ Blagoja Naumoski, 31′ Edin Mersovski, 58′, 82′ Mihajlo Jakimoski, 86′ Bojan Gjorgievski, 88′ Darko Dodev
Ljuboten – Shkupi 1:5 (0:1)
85′ Tomas Tasos – 26′ (pen) Besar Iseni, 67′, 87′ Husein Demiri, 75′ Djihan Seferi, 82′ Imerdjan Jusuf
Thursday at 17.00 CET:
Fortuna vs. Rabotnichki
Plachkovica vs. Bregalnica
11 Oktomvri vs. Pelister