Macedonia U21 celebrated a 1:0 win over Montenegro in the friendly match played today in Kumanovo.

With the lone goal scored by David Babunski in 30th minute, the new U21 squad started the preparations for the next qualifications tournament with a win over Montenegrin counterparts. Babunski has chosen many new players along with several who have already been tested. The visitors came with squad consisted solely of players who play in domestic championship.

Macedonia proved to be the better opponent, although the visitors complained about Dejan Jakimovski’s subjective refereeing. Vlaisavljević, Montenegro’s manager, stated – ‘There were 2 situations in which the referee had to point to the spot, but he didn’t. He simply did not allow us to play’. However, Macedonia controlled the match and deserved their win. The goal was scored in 30th minute when Babunski collected a ball parried by Petković and sent a precise shot from around 11 meters. 

Interesting situation happened with Macedonia’s goalkeepers. Efremov substituted Dimitrievski but suffered an injury and blood came out from above his eye. However, Dimitrievski was not allowed back in again, and Efremov returned to the match with bandages over his head after 10 minutes of medical treatment. This match was followed by Macedonian national team manager Chedomir Janevski.

Macedonia: Dimitrievski (Efremov); Kitanovski, Ashkovski, Najdovski (Drobarov), Stojchevski, Dragarski, Gjurgjevikj (Jakupov), Micevski (Zhuta), Simonovski (Biljalji), Babunski (Bajrami), Timov (Hristov).

Montenegro: Petković (Butorović); Gojačanin, Kaluđerović (Jovović), Mitrović (Vujačić), Vukčević (Pavićević), Janković, Zorić (Mugoša), Šušnjar, Alić, Stijepović (Bogdanović), Boljević (Grbović).