Surprising defeat for leaders Vardar by Sileks that allowed Shkendija with a win to come close on just 2 points in the battle for the title.
Sileks made the title battle interesting as the beat Vardar today in Kratovo. After only seven minutes of play Sileks broke the deadlock with a beautufil free kick goal by Panovski, but Vardar quickly equalized through Grncharov. Meanwhile vardar had a penalty kick, but Mitrović saved Ćeran’s shot. Before the break the home side managed to score a new goal. In the 73rd minute Armenian national team player Hovhannes Hambardzumyan got a red card leaving Vardar with 10 men. Sileks immediately seized the occasion scoring a goal for 3:1. Two minutes before the end Vardar pulled one back from the spot but failed to escape a defeat.
The unusual celebration of Sileks:
For the first time this season a game wsa played on the Gradski stadium in Tetovo. The new grass was finally installed and Shkendija used to occasion to welcome Renova. The second placed team celebrated a 3:1 win and thanks to Vardar’s defeat is now only 2 points behind the leaders.
Bregalnica won an important point away to Shkupi in a game that was played on neutral field due to Shkupi’s suspension because of the incidents that occured during Round 24 game against Vardar.
After 5 winless rounds Rabotnichki managed to celebrate. They defeated Turnovo 2:0 as 16-year-old Elis Elmas celebrated his first ever First League goal.
The last game featured the two bottom-placed teams of Metalurg and Mladost. The home team grabbed the points by scoring twice in the last 12 minutes of the game. Now both sides are equal on points, but Mladost is the team that got the bottom because they lost twice in the three encounters with Metalurg and have by far worse goal-difference.
Next weekend is the last round before the table gets split into play-off and play-out group. The matches that decide which teams will play in which group are Renova – Metalurg, Bregalnica – Rabotnichki and Turnovo Sileks. Currently Bregalnica and Turnovo have 30 points, while Renova has 28. One of this trio will qualify for the play-off group, while the other two for the play-out.
Round 26 results:
Shkendija – Renova 3:1 (2:0)
5′ (pen) Besart Ibraimi, 32′ Marjan Radeski, 87′ Shpend Asani – 80′ Ljavdrim Skenderi
Rabotnichki – Turnovo 2:0 (1:0)
44′ Elif Elmas, 66′ Marjan Altiparmakovski
Shkupi – Bregalnica 2:2 (1:1)
33′ Muharem Bajrami, 52′ Florent Osmani – 12′ Gjorgi Tanushev, 61′ Stojancho Velinov
Metalurg – Mladost 2:0 (0:0)
78′ Vlatko Stojanovski, 87′ Blagoja Naumoski
Sileks – Vardar 3:2 (2:1)
7′ Aleksandar Panovski, 30′ Igor Nedeljković, 76′ Filip Duranski – 13′ Boban Grncharov, 88′ (pen) Damir Kojašević