Lokomotiv (Plovdiv) and Spartak (Varna) ended in a 1-1 draw in a match from the 22nd round of the First Football League, BTA reported.
Despite being left with a man less on the field in the 52nd minute due to Tsvetelin Chunchukov's second yellow card, the "falcons" opened the scoring just four minutes later through Jota Lopes. Still, the "railroad players" used their numerical advantage to equalize with a goal by Todor Pavlov a quarter of an hour before the end.
Thus, Lokomotiv remains in sixth place in the standings with an asset of 34 points, while Spartak is 12th with 20 points to its credit.
After only 25 seconds of play, Shande took the first shot of the match, which went past Boyan Milosavljevic's right post. In the seventh minute, the visitors' goalkeeper Maxim Kovalev reacted to an accurate shot by Catalin Itu from distance.
Ten minutes later, the Romanian footballer again found himself in a shooting position in the penalty area, but this time he did not find the target.
Until the end of the first half, minutes of shared dominance followed, in which, however, duels prevailed at the expense of interesting situations in front of both goals.
Seven minutes after the start of the second half, the "falcons" were left with one man less on the field. Tsvetelin Chunchukov elbowed Andrey Kindrish while fighting for a high ball and received a second yellow and a red card, respectively.
However, only four minutes later, Spartak opened the scoring. Angel Granchov received in the penalty area and fooled several Lokomotiv defenders before passing to Jota Lopes, who finished precisely in the lower right corner of Milosavljevic – 0:1.
In the 66th minute, Kindrish headed well after a corner kick, but Maxim Kovalev was in place to catch it. Shortly after, the “falcons“ keeper also intervened on a strong shot by Joel Zvarts from a small angle.
A quarter of an hour before the end of regular time, the “black and whites“ came to an equalizer. Ivaylo Ivanov crossed from the right to Zvarts, who deflected with his head and the ball fell to the feet of Todor Pavlov, whose shot from several meters stopped in the “falcons“ net – 1:1.
In the last minutes, the hosts pressed their opponent in search of a complete turnaround and in the 87th minute were very close to a second goal. However, Kovalev showed brilliant reflexes on a cross shot by Francisco Politino, and in the extra time Parviz Umarbaev hit the post. Then the Spartak goalkeeper did not allow Catalin Itu to score, left alone when taking a corner.