Rabotnichki collected a come from behind victory over Teteks to clinch its fourth cup trophy in the club’s history.
The opening 20 minutes in this cup final were rather quiet as neither side could muster a quality chance. Both teams were feeling each other out before Rabotnichki finally threatened midway through the 1st half. However, that chance was dealt with by Teteks keeper Vanche Manchevski. Just before halftime, Teteks took the goal after a goal by Cvetan Churlinov. He fired a left footed shot from the edge of the area past keeper Andreja Efremov.
Rabotnickhki equalized in the 69th minute on a nice backheel goal by Bazhe Ilijoski. His strike partner Marjan Altiparmakovski made a low pass from the right hand side, and Ilijoski cleverly used his backheel to score the goal. Two minutes later, Teteks was down to 10 men when Filip Najdovski, the right-back, received his second yellow card of the game, thus leading to a sending off. Rabotnichki quickly capitalized on that player advantage when Altiparmakovski scored what proved to be the game winner in the 73rd minute. Chuma Anene sent a low cross from the left hand side, and there was Altiparmakovski to tap his effort to the back of the net.
After those two goals that gave them the lead, Rabotnichki looked comfortable and held on to the 2:1 win. Teteks used up a lot of energy through the first hour or so, and the red card in the 71st minute was absolutely devastating for their chances in springing the surprise. In the end, they came up short, but they should be proud of their effort. The question begs why a team that competed so well today was that bad in league play. They certainly didn’t look that inferior in this cup final, so it’s mind boggling why they don’t play with the same intensity in league play.
Like we said earlier, this was Rabotnichki’s fourth cup trophy for in their history. Their record in the cup final is now four wins and two losses.
National team manager Ljubinko Drulović was in attendance of this match. He sat in the stands next to the presidents of FFM, Teteks and Rabotnichki, along with the FFM general secretary.
