Rabotnicki peppered the goal of their opponents from San Marino but was only rewarded with one goal.
A frustrating game ended for Rabotnicki with a minimal 1:0 road win but the score is not indicative of the dominance by Rabotnicki over their opponents Juvenes/Dogana. According to the stats on the website of UEFA.com, Rabotnicki had 14 shots on goal with another 17 shots that went off target while their opponents attempted only three shots and they were all off target. Rabotnicki also had 14 corners compared to one for their opponents but they needed a late goal from substitute Filip Petkovski in the 86th minute to avoid a goalless draw.
The game was played on the Juvenes/Dogana half of the field as Rabotnicki dominated possession and managed to score two goals in the 1st half but unfortunately both goals were ruled offside. The team from San Marino was only interested in defending and held up until the 86th minute when Rabotnicki was finally rewarded with a goal. Juvenes/Dogana finished the game with ten men after one of their players picked up a second yellow card and was sent off by the referee. Rabotnicki went forward looking for a goal and the first substitution for the team in the 59th minute brought an extra attacker in Filip Petkovski while sacrificing the starting RB Goran Bogdanovik. It proved to be a good substitution as Petkovski ended up scoring the only goal of the game. Petkovski has now scored three goals in three games during the Europa League qualifications, all in substitute appearances.
The return leg will be played on 21 July 2011 at the Fillip II Arena in Skopje. Rabotnicki will look to finish off their opponents early by picking up a comfortable victory on their way to the third round of the Europa League qualification. Keep in mind that UEFA will hold the draw tomorrow for the third round of qualifications so Rabotnicki will find out their opponents for the third round proven they don’t suffer some kind of a debacle at the hands of Juvenes/Dogana in the second leg which is not expected.
Stadio Olimpico in Serravalle, San Marino
Referee: Huw Jones (Wales)
Scorer: Petkovski 86′
Red Cards: Gasperoni (second yellow card 76′)
Yellow cards: Friguglietti, Ceci, Gasperoni, K. Velkoski
Juvenes/Dogana: Manzaroli, Cavalli, Frino, Gasperoni, Ceci (67′ Colombini), Cervellini, Santini (90′ Zafferani), Caminati (78′ Casadei), Bacciocchi, Friguglietti, Selva.
Rabotnicki: Dimitrievski; Bogdanovik (59′ Petkovski), Stojanov, Kumbev, Lazarevski; Todorovski, Petrovik (75′ Trajkovski), Vujčić, Velkovski; Velkoski, Manevski (84′ Skenderovik).